If you hold your nose and wiggle it from side to side, the wiggle bit is cartilage. Cartilage is flexible tissue that joins bones together, such as the bones of the rib cage, the ear, the nose and the backbone. It is not as hard and rigid as bone but is stiffer and less flexible than muscle.

Cartilage grows and repairs more slowly than other tissues, which is why a cartilage problem in the knee, for example, can take a lot of time to put right.