Muscle Detective: Occipitofrontalis
It’s mouthful, yes, but you use this muscle everyday when you raise your eyebrows. You might do this when you are surprised or frightened. Boo!
The front part of this muscle starts under the skin where your eyebrows are located. It then travels back to the top of the head, blending into a layer of thick connective tissue which then blends into the back (occipital) portion of the muscle. This portion rests at the occipital ridge, the bony part of the skull where the neck starts.
The occipitofrontalis is one of thirty mimetic muscles – muscles that express emotion. Prolonged stress, concentration, or fear can exhaust this muscle.
Tension can set up trigger points which can cause headaches and eye pain. It’s easy to access this muscle to massage it; you probably do it often without even realizing.
In this depiction by Primal Pictures you can see the frontal and occipital bellies, but not the connecting tissue. The muscle belly at the side of the skull is the temporalis muscle.
Tags: Muscle Detective, muscles, Trigger Points