Inferior pharyngeal constrictor

Looks like

The thickest of the throat-squeezing muscles, wrapping the lower throat from the voice box cartilages around to the back.

What it does

Squeezes food down into the gullet; its lowest part acts as the upper gatekeeper of the oesophagus.

Keeping it well

A pouch can form through a weak spot here (Zenker's), causing regurgitated food and bad breath. Trouble swallowing needs a doctor.

Related conditions

• Bad breath (halitosis)
• Botulism
• Burning mouth syndrome
• Common cold
• Diphtheria
• Fibromyalgia
• Frailty & falls in older age
• Hand, foot and mouth disease
• Heat exhaustion & heatstroke
• Influenza
• Lichen planus
• Malnutrition & refeeding syndrome
• Mouth ulcers (aphthous stomatitis)
• Muscular dystrophy
• Obstructive sleep apnoea
• Pemphigus vulgaris
• Polymyalgia rheumatica
• Rhabdomyolysis
• Sarcoma
• Sarcopenia
• Scarlet fever
• Stevens–Johnson syndrome / toxic epidermal necrolysis
• Tetanus