Anatomy and Physiology
What the exam tests
Anatomy questions ask you to locate bones and muscles of the face and skull, trace nerve and circulation pathways, and relate skin, hair, and nail structures to treatment safety. You do not need medical-level detail, but you do need direction and function.
Key structures
- Skull bones: frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, ethmoid, sphenoid. Facial bones: zygomatic, maxillae, mandible, nasal, lacrimal, palatine, vomer.
- Muscles of expression: frontalis raises brows; orbicularis oculi closes the eye; orbicularis oris closes the lips; zygomaticus major and minor smile; depressor anguli oris frowns; mentalis moves the chin; buccinator compresses the cheek.
- Muscles of mastication: masseter, temporalis, medial and lateral pterygoids.
- Nerves: trigeminal (CN V) supplies sensation to the face; facial nerve (CN VII) supplies muscles of expression.
- Skin layers: epidermis with strata basale, spinosum, granulosum, lucidum, and corneum; dermis with papillary and reticular layers; hypodermis. Appendages include eccrine and apocrine sweat glands, sebaceous glands, and the hair follicle with bulb, papilla, and arrector pili.
- Nail: plate, bed, matrix, lunula, eponychium, hyponychium, sidewalls, and free edge.
Worked example
A client flinches when you massage along the jaw near the angle of the mandible. Reasoning: the masseter lies there, and the marginal mandibular branch of the facial nerve runs nearby; pressure can be uncomfortable. Adjust direction and pressure rather than working through the flinch.
Traps
- Mixing origin and insertion.
- Calling the facial nerve sensory.
- Massaging directly over the trachea or carotid sinus.
- Treating the lunula as the whole nail matrix.