Muscle Minute TUESDAY – Meet the Styloglossus

Wait one second. That’s a muscle of the tongue. How does THAT improve the strength of your legs?! It’s a curious thing to be curious. I was thinking yesterday about one of the most interesting yoga poses I’ve ever seen, the Roaring Lion’s Pose.

It involves sticking your tongue out as far as you can and exhaling with a forceful “haaa!” and has been shown to reduce stress levels. Try it. And if you can do it without feeling self-conscious, even better. Lions don’t care about what other people think.

That led me to this research study about the anatomical relationships of the tongue with the body systems. Did you know pressing your tongue up against the palatine spot (just behind your upper front teeth) has been shown to improve isokinetic knee extension strength by 30%? And that motion is done by the styloglossus muscle. Let’s dive in.

Origin	styloid process of the temporal bone
Insertion	tip and sides of tongue
Action	retraction and elevation of the tongue
Innervation	hypoglossal n (CN XII)
Antagonists	genioglossus (protraction), hyoglossus (depression)

The Real World Styloglossus

The tongue positioned in the palatine spot has also been shown to decrease the velocity of movement of the center of gravity, meaning placing your tongue at the front roof of your mouth can also improve balance, gait and posture.

What other connections does the styloglossus have? If the tongue is positioned against the palate, the parasympathetic system activity is reduced, resulting in an increase in heart rate and respiration. If, however, the tongue is positioned against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of your mouth) the sympathetic system will reduce its activity, promoting relaxation and decreased heart rate. There is a yoga exercise that involves rolling your tongue back towards your throat causing the tip of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Try it.

Is it hard for you to move your tongue around? Here is a great video of some tongue exercises to improve your day. The tongue muscles are like any other, if you don’t use them, you lose them.

Conventional thinking says: The tongue is just used for speech, swallowing and digestion.

Real World Thinking says: Tongue position and movement influences balance, posture and lower extremity strength. Making sure you can move your tongue in all directions may improve the way you walk and move. Now, that’s thinking out of the box.

Because nobody has time to be in pain.

Until next time…