Anatomy of the hand:
The fantastic structure and nature of the hand is not well known to most people or even most scientists, although it is the part of the body most frequently used.
The human hand is a tool that has evolved along with the brain and is closely correlated with it. The dexterous structure of the human hand is the most advanced among all creatures.
People should become familiar with their hands. In normal humans the hand is composed of 27 bones. There are 8 carpal bones including the scaphoid, lunate, triangular, pisiform, greater and lesser trapezium, capitate and hamate bones. They are connected together by ligaments to perform various delicate movements of the palm and fingers. The palm is composed of 5 metacarpal bones which are connected to the 5 fingers. The thumb is composed of 2 phalangeal bones, and each of other 4 fingers is composed of 3 phalangeal bones, so there are 14 phlangeal bones in all. The phalangeal bones of a finger are numbered as first, second and third from the proximal to the distal end of the finger.
The first segment is also called the proximal phalanx, and the third one is also called the distal phalanx. All hand bones are connected by muscles, ligaments and fibrous bundles to perform various delicate movements (Fig. 2-1).
1-scaphoid 2-cpitate 3-greater trapezium 4-lesser trapezium 5-first metacarpal 6-proximal phalanx 7-distal phalanx 8-lunate 9-triangular 10-pisiform ll-hamate 12-base 13-body 14-caput 15-fifth metacarpal 16-first (proximal) phalax 17-second (middle) phalanx 18-third (distal) phalax
