Temple which part of body

Roughly corresponding to what we all know as the temple, this place — which takes its name from the Greek pteron , meaning wing think of Hermes with wings attached to this part of his head — is the junction of four separate skull bones, the frontal, parietal, temporal and sphenoid. Sometimes referred to in neurosurgical circles as "God's little joke", the bony pterion is not just a hazard zone because it is so thin, but also on account of a big artery, the middle meningeal, which runs immediately beneath it.

A direct blow to the pterion, or even an indirect blow to another part of the skull, may cause a fracture to this weak area, with an associated rupture of the underlying vessel. This can lead to something called an epidural haematoma, where blood builds up between the outer covering of the brain and the skull, with consequent pressure on the brain itself. Such an injury requires emergency surgery known as a craniotomy — where a hole is put in the skull, to let the blood out and so release cerebral pressure.

But this dramatic lesson is a far cry from my current temple-associated practice. For more information, see our privacy policy. You can freely give, refuse or withdraw your consent at any time by accessing our cookie settings tool.

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These are cookies intended to measure the audience: it allows to generate usage statistics useful for the improvement of the website. Verify now. While these skull bones are "relatively strong," though thin, Anwar tells Mental Floss, the point at which they meet is the weakest point because there's no solid bone beneath them.

When Maori warriors of the first nations tribes of New Zealand and Australia went into battle, one weapon they took with them was the patu onewa , a flat, heavy club carved from stones such as basalt, and sometimes jade, for the specific purpose of delivering a fatal, crushing blow to the temple.

Running below these bones is a large artery known as the middle meningeal artery. It supplies blood to the outer covering of the brain, the meninges. This can cause an epidural hematoma, essentially "a collection of blood that builds up around the brain and compresses it. Severe bleeding can cause "catastrophic consequences" if not recognized and treated promptly, including brain herniation bulging brain tissue , hemiparesis weakness of one side of the body , and death.

Etymologists don't entirely agree on the meaning of the word temple , which has multiple origins. It may derive from the Latin word for time, tempus , according to a Dartmouth Medical School anatomy course : "The connection may be that with the passage of time, grey hairs appear here early on. Or it may relate to the pulsations of the underlying superficial temporal artery, marking the time we have left here.