How we don’t know our own bodies

When it comes to knowledge of our own body, many of us do not know our adrenal glands from our elbows.

In a survey that asked participants to mark on a diagram of the body where various organs were, the only part they all placed correctly was the brain.

Just 15 per cent of us know where our adrenal glands are. Many believe they are in the neck, rather than next to the kidneys. Only 20 per cent can locate the spleen and 24 per cent the gallbladder.

And nearly four in ten of us are unable to point exactly to the heart. Such lack of anatomical knowledge can make it harder for medics to give treatment.

A patient may be unaware that an area of the body that is hurting is where a major organ is located.

The researchers say it may hamper health education campaigns such as prostate cancer awareness, with 18 per cent of men unaware they have a pros- tate gland – and only 8 per cent knowing what it does. The study of 63 people aged from eight to the late 70s showed older people tend to be better at locating body parts, with the 40 to 49 age group doing best.

This may be ‘because this is when people begin visiting the doctor more often’, according to the Lancaster University research, published in the journal Campaigns. Men scored higher than women at identifying muscles but lower on locating internal organs.