the jawbone of an ass

 

The jawbone of an ass

 

The "jawbone of an ass" refers to the biblical story in Judges 15 where the Israelite hero Samson used a fresh donkey jawbone as an unlikely weapon to kill a thousand Philistines, symbolizing divine strength in weakness and unconventional victory. It's a phrase found in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible and highlights themes of God empowering ordinary things for extraordinary feats, often used in art and literature.

At some point in time, the term also evolved to include ignorant people, especially those who have been elected to office.

However, there is an interesting fact about the jaw bone that most of us are not familiar with, and it is related to our bodies.

 

https://interestingfacts.com/muscle-facts/?lctg=ba1c555c-35c6-4205-8fa9-b593744f36da

 

The human body is a complex network of bones, sinews, tendons, organs, and muscles all working together to propel us through our daily lives, but it’s the latter member of this biological lineup that literally does much of the heavy lifting. More than 600 muscles spread across three muscle groups — skeletal, smooth (found in the walls of some organs), and cardiac — make up the human body, and this intricate system accounts for up to 40% of your total body mass. 

With such a complicated system keeping you moving (it takes the coordination of more than 200 muscles just to walk, for example), the human muscular system is a treasure trove of head-scratching and awe-inspiring facts. Here are five facts that will make you better appreciate what your hundreds of muscles do for you every day. 

 

You’re familiar with the body’s five senses (taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing) but there’s a little-known sixth sense provided by receptors in your muscles, tendons, and skin known as “proprioception.” The information sent by those receptors, once processed by the cerebellum, allows your brain to interpret the position of your body in space.

Impairment of this sense can affect even the most physically fit among us. During the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), U.S. gymnast Simone Biles famously experienced a condition known as the “twisties,” which is essentially a temporary impairment of a type of proprioception known as “air awareness” — basically your brain and body have a slight communication breakdown that results in the body no longer accurately sensing its position while airborne. Luckily, most of us don’t require gymnast-level attunement to our proprioceptors in our daily lives, but it goes to show how our muscles do much more than just physically move us from place to place.

 

People often say the tongue is the strongest muscle in the human body, but that’s actually incorrect in more ways than one. First off, the tongue isn’t one muscle but a collection of eight muscles, each with an important role for talking, eating, and anchoring to the skeleton. And while it’s true a healthy tongue rarely shows signs of fatigue, its strength by volume is dwarfed by that of the masseter, known more commonly as the jaw muscle.

 

Working in coordination with other muscles located in the jaw, the masseter can deliver up to 200 pounds of force on the molars. While the gluteus maximus (aka your butt) is the largest muscle and the heart is by far the hardest working, no muscle singlehandedly delivers as much power as the masseter.

 

If you want further proof that the jawbone is the strongest muscle in the body, consider the stunts performed by the Wallenda family.

Both Erendira Wallenda and her husband, Nik Wallenda, have performed aerial stunts involving hanging by their teeth, a feat known in the circus world as an "iron-jaw hang". 

Erendira Wallenda's Stunt

In June 2017, Erendira Wallenda broke the world record for the highest "iron-jaw hang" when she dangled from a hoop suspended from a helicopter approximately 300 feet above Niagara Falls. The stunt, performed on the fifth anniversary of her husband's tightrope walk across the falls, saw her perform several acrobatic maneuvers before hanging solely by her teeth using a specialized mouth guard. She remained suspended above the water for about eight minutes of the 10-minute performance. 

Nik Wallenda's Stunt

Erendira's stunt surpassed the previous height record set by her husband, Nik Wallenda. In 2011, Nik hung by his teeth for a similar feat 250 feet above Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. He later described the training as "very painful" and reported having neck problems for months afterward. 

Both aerialists used custom-made mouth guards created by a dentist to perform these daring feats, relying on jaw muscle strength to avoid falling. 

 

It’s unlikely that discussions of your jawbone will every come up in casual conversation, but if it does, your newfound knowledge will impress your friends – as long as you do not say too much.