Doctor uses TikTok to educate about the human body

A lab is specialising in human cadavers as tools for education and training.
A lab is specialising in human cadavers as tools for education and training. Photo credit: instituteofhumananatomy /Instagram

Warning: Contains explicit medical content which may be confronting. 

A doctor has gained international attention for his rather graphic video explaining why women get period cramps on popular social media app TikTok. 

Wait, a period cramp explainer on TikTok? 

Yes, it is rather shocking to see a uterus in the flesh, and unusually informative for the Tiktok feed… but with over four million views, it's clear that this educational video hasn't been dubbed boring. 

The video was posted by 'The Institute of Human Anatomy' HYPERLINK run by Johnathan Bennion, Jeremy Jones, and Justin Cottle.

The physician, entrepreneur and licensed massage therapist founded the page, where they utilize human cadavers  - dead bodies - as instruments for education, training and prototype testing.

While people can go to their lab classrooms in Utah,  they also teach through informative videos about human anatomy and post to their Youtube, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok.

"We believe that people should have access to this knowledge in order to help them better understand how their body works, make informed choices about their health, and inspire people to pursue careers that will help others live happy and healthy lives," Jones told Buzzfeed. 

He said they received a lot of queries about period cramps, hence the viral video. 

"Women obviously have to deal with this frequently, so we thought it would be great to explain what was going on during just one part of this cycle." 

You can watch even more period explainers on their YouTube, if you're so inclined. 

So what tickles your fancy?  The Pituitary Gland? An Abdominal Hernia? The Obliques? Shin Splints? Well, an explainer AND the actual human body parts are just a click away.

Just be warned, it can be confronting seeing what usually lies below the skin. 

The team only got started in November, so are asking for followers to put in their requests on what they would like to know about.