A friend of mine, we’ll call him Mark, was recently diagnosed with TMJ (temporomandibular joint disorder). Not only was it difficult to pronounce but the idea of a reasonably healthy person suddenly finding it painfully difficult to chew food, even to the point of locking up, was curious to me. Not one to usually complain about aches and pains, his concerns finally outweighed the apprehension of a dental visit; and the x-rays didn’t lie. A specialist would be next on the itinerary, and after several full-head scans later, it was apparent why there was a loss of normal function. The jaw hinge had dislocated and become loose, leaving it to pop and click when his mouth open and closed.
Okay, it is what it is. Or was it? The next observations were rather telling. He was asked whether he experienced headaches; occasionally migraines. The answer was “Yes”. Turns out, the misaligned jaw was occasionally putting pressure on a channel below the ear that pinched a nerve and muscle; resulting in swelling around the sinuses and brain. Say what?
But the balance test was the most amazing. The doc had him look away, and while he stood there with arms out and jaw relaxed, a finger gently tapped on his chest. He curiously fell back the eight inches to the wall. Doc then had him bite down on a tongue depressor and repeated the test. The slight repositioning of the jaw was enough to actually change his balance; no arm movement, no falling away, rock steady. Seriously.
Turns out there’s a connection between your posture, balance… and the position of the jaw. Now, medical professionals aside, I would be in the category of people that had no clue. You would think, given all the technology and shared knowledge that exists in our life time, that there should not be any mysteries left to uncover. Aside from cancers and new virus strains, you would think that as the species with ultimate decision-making authority over all other life forms on earth, we should be confident and in control of our own lives. But the sobering reminder is that as a created life-form, our Creator made us as a finely-tuned instrument, the inner workings of which have no equal and, at times, hard to understand even for the medical profession.
Science has revealed how complex we are. For instance, despite three hundred million cells that die in the human body every minute and the 32 million bacteria on and in your body most of which are harmless, there are an estimated 60,000 miles of blood vessels, some of which, supply the brain that's firing nerve impulses up to 170 mph. The brain, it’s said, can hold five times as much information as an encyclopedia which operates on the same amount of power as a 10-watt light bulb. Each person has a unique smell and the nose can remember 50,000 different scents, and while your stomach acid is strong enough to dissolve razor blades, the lining of your stomach renews every few days to avoid damage. Perhaps the most revealing factoid is that we humans are the only animal to produce emotional tears; a uniquely human trait in that the ability to show empathy was divinely assigned to us.
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalms 139
Yes, most of the time we take it for granted, but you are amazing.
“Three-minute exposure; a snapshot of life’s imperfect harmony,” by Stew McAuley.
Encouraging your Christian Worldview.
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