9 body parts you probably don't know the names of

1. Anatomical snuffbox

Raising your thumb up, you will notice a hole at its base - on the side of the hand. This is a triangular depression between the tendons of the long and short extensor fingers, as well as the long abductor muscle.

It called "anatomical snuffbox", or radial fossa. The radial artery passes through it, the pulsation of which can be easily felt. In people with thin and sinewy hands, the depression is especially pronounced.

And it was named so because in the 18th and 19th centuries people poured snuff into this recess before using it.

2. Filtrum

Look at your face in the mirror and find the indentation above your upper lip. It is called the filtrum, or labial or nasal groove. Such a depression is present in humans and in many other mammals.

This place is the point of connection of different parts of the human face in the process of its embryonic development at the 2–3rd month

pregnancy. If something goes wrong, the child may develop a so-called cleft lip. A flattened or flattened philtrum is one of the symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome.

People only need filtrum for beauty, but in other mammals it performs important functions. In animals, this groove is a narrow vertical slit through which moisture, due to the capillarity of the surface, hits on the nose, keeping it moist. Then odorous substances through the filtrum are sent to the mucous membrane through the ducts inside the mouth.

This helps the animal to determine the location of odor sources. But we and our ancestors monkeys the philtrum is vestigial because we focus more on sight than on smell.

By the way, from the Greek word "filtrum" translated as a "love potion", because the Greeks considered this place extremely attractive.

3. Aknestis

It happens to you that itches back, but you can’t reach the right place between the shoulder blades above the sacrum? This elongated area of ​​​​the body also has its own name - acnes. Term in medical literature introduced in the middle of the 18th century, the English physician Robert James. Although it was used before - however, in relation to animals, and not to people. So they called the withers, which you can’t scratch yourself.

4. Acromion

Touch your shoulder. Do you feel a protruding bone at its highest point? This is an acromion. Usually this branch attached to the shoulder blade - it fuses with it at about 12 years old. But in 1–15% of cases, this does not happen, and it remains in the body as an additional bone that is not attached to the skeleton. However, this rarely leads to any unpleasant consequences.

Loosely spaced acromions discovered from the skeletons recovered from the ship "Mary Rose", which sank in 1545 and belonged to the fleet of the English king Henry VIII. Crew members from childhood practiced a lot in shooting from a medieval combat bow - and it requires much more tension than the modern standard Olympic apparatus. And this prevented the bone fusion of the acromion with the scapula.

5. Glabella

Glabella, or glabella, is a place on a person's face that is located exactly between the eyebrows. From Latin this word translated as "hairless, smooth". And this is the most protruding part after the nose. The skin in this place moves with the reduction and smoothing of the muscles responsible for facial expressions.

Medically, glabella is important anatomical landmark. For example, in neurosurgery, it is used as a marker to determine the entry point into the skull for access to brain, and in cosmetology - for the introduction of injections that smooth wrinkles on the forehead and between the eyebrows.

In addition, the skin over the glabella used to look for signs of dehydration. Pinch and lift this area. If the skin is elastic and returns to its place, everything is in order. In a dehydrated patient, it remains stretched after being lifted and does not immediately return to its normal shape.

6. Tragus and antitragus

The tragus is a small cartilaginous protrusion in front of the auricle, located at the outer ear. In Latin he called tragus, and the term comes from the Greek word for goat. This part of the ear got its name because the hairs growing next to it resemble the beard of this animal. A person also has an anti-tragus - a cartilaginous protrusion located above the earlobe, opposite the tragus.

Due to its location, the tragus helps to pick up sounds coming from behind. It allows you to determine the direction from which they are coming, and enhances the most important frequencies by additionally reflecting sound into the inner ear, improving its sensitivity. The countertragus performs a similar function, but for sounds coming from the front.

In some animals, especially bats, the tragus has a special meaning. It plays an important role in definition prey locations and navigation using echolocation. For example, it allows bats to locate objects and obstacles in 3D space.

7. gnathion

Well, everything is simple here. The gnathion is the lowest point at the tip of the lower jaw. Her use for anthropometric measurements.

The ability to locate gnathion is important for maxillofacial and plastic surgeons. And also for boxers, because that’s where you should hit in order to surely knock out a person.

8. Holes

You have holes in your nails! In the sense of not holes into which balls should be driven while playing golf, but “little moons” (from the Latin lunula). These are crescent-shaped whitish areas best seen on the thumbnails.

Holes allow evaluate a person's health. If they are not visible, this may indicate malnutrition, anemia, kidney failure and heart disease.

9. Diastema

Diastema is a medical term denoted space between two adjacent teeth. It can occur for a variety of reasons, including dental anomalies and misalignment, genetic factors, jaw and gum size, missing teeth, or malocclusion.

Diastema between the front teeth, especially between the upper incisors, can be quite noticeable. In some cases, she may call difficulty chewing food or making sounds. There are many ways to correct it - for example, the same braces.

However, in some people, the diastema is a natural feature and can give them a unique appearance. For example, in Ghana, Namibia, Nigeria and many communities in Kenya, counts a sign of fertility, and some people even create extra space between their teeth through cosmetic dentistry.

And in Medieval Europe it was believed that girls with diastema are extremely sexy - this is still Geoffrey Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales noticed. And in France, a person with her is called the owner of "teeth of happiness."

This expression appeared during the reign of Napoleon. His soldiers had to have perfect cutters because they used them to open paper cases containing gunpowder and bullets. People with diastema were considered unfit for battle. Therefore, some men even broke their teeth in order not to go to war.