By Ground Up Strength The masseter is a jaw muscle that gets its
name from the Greek work "to chew". It is the major muscle of
mastication (chewing) of the human jaw and serves primarily to
elevate the mandible (lower jaw) while the deep tissues help to
protrude (protract) it forward. Although we rarely think of it,
the mandible is the only bone of the skull that is actually
moveable. The upper jaw is fixed. There is a lot of moving for
the mandible to do, therefore, and the masseter is the primary
worker. Located on each side of the face in the parotid1 region
at the back of the jaw, these muscles are easily visible or
palpable when you clench your jaw, as they contract strongly
just in front of the lower ears.2 The masseter muscle covers the
side of the jaw nearest the ear and for its size it is one of
the strongest muscles and some physiologists believe it to be
the strongest muscle of all but this is hard to determine with
complete accuracy.3 The average human can bite down with a force
of 150 pounds and