Word: gluteal
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...nerve fibers to the fourth lumbar vertebra (see diagram). Then the impulse travels upward and soon crosses over to the opposite side of the spinal cord for its journey toward the brain. Along the way it triggers an automatic reflex that causes the man to flinch and tighten his gluteal muscle. After the impulse reaches the thalamus, a major (and evolutionally ancient) junction box at the base of the brain, where it is perceived as pain, it proceeds to the cortex. Only in this, the newest and most advanced part of the brain, is the entire painful sensation fully processed...
...best spot for the needle, according to Dr. Hanson, is the gluteal muscle in the buttock. This, he insists, is not to be confused with the whole buttock, which has a lot of fatty tissue lower down. Doctors have a traditional trick for picking the place for the needle. They draw two imaginary lines, one vertical and one horizontal, on the buttock (see diagram) and make the injection into the upper, outer quadrant. But this is risky, says Dr. Hanson, because people are not all built alike, and if the needle goes in a little too close to the midline...
There is one main exception to his general rule, Dr. Hanson admits. Infants have only small gluteal muscles, and because of their squirming he thinks it is safer to give them injections in the front or outer side of the thigh...