Joints of the Hand – Joints of Upper Limb

00:00 If we then move on to the wrist joint, the articulation of the wrist is between the radius and the proximal row of the carpal bones. So here we can see the radius. This is a dorsal view of the radius. The ulnar doesn’t articulate with the carpal bones. It’s the radius that articulates with the carpal bones, and specifically, the proximal row of carpal bones, not including the pisiform. So we can see we’ve got the radius here. We can see we have a whole number of ligaments. We’ve got anterior and posterior ligaments that these serve to strengthen the joint capsule. So we can see we have a dorsal radiocarpal ligament here on the dorsal surface.

00:46 We’ll also have a ventral one on the anterior surface running from the radius to the carpals, and these help to reinforce these joints. We also have our collateral ligaments once again.

00:57 And these are on the ulnar side and on the radial side. So here, we have the ulnar collateral ligament running from the ulnar styloid process to the triquetrium, one of the carpal bones. And here we have on the radial side, we have the radial collateral ligament reinforcing the fibrous joint capsule, that is running from the radial styloid process to the scaphoid bone. And these are holding the bones together in place allowing their articular surfaces to come together. What movements can occur at these joints? Well, we have flexion, extension, abduction and adduction, and we also have circumduction.

01:41 So these movements are able to occur at the wrist joint. Now let’s move on to the joints of the hand specifically, and a whole series of joints within the carpal bones. We can see here we have the carpal bones. We have the scaphoid, we have the lunate, we have the triquetrium, we have the various carpal bones we can see here in this section through the hand and the wrist joint. We can see the wrist joint here. We can see the distal radio-ulnar joint here. So the articulation between these carpal bones, intercarpal joints, well there’s numerous, anterior and posterior ligaments. There are also interosseous ligaments that you can see connecting the various carpal bones together. And really, there's a lot of them and they just are sitting in and around the carpal bones. So we have numerous anterior and posterior and interosseous ligaments. Movements that occur with the carpal bones, we have flexion and extension of them. And they also help to augment the movement of the wrist. So carpometacarpal, that’s the joint between the carpal and the metacarpal bones, and then later on, we’ll look at intermetacarpal, the joints between the metacarpals.

03:10 If we have a look, the articulation between the carpal and the metacarpal bones, again, we have numerous ligaments anterior and posterior and interosseous ligaments. We can see interosseous metacarpal ligaments running between the two metacarpals here and here, and here and here, here and here. And we can see we have carpometarcapal joints, the joints between the carpal bones and the metacarpals. Movements, well, at the thumb, we have flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, and circumduction. So here at the thumb, carpometacarpal joint, we have a whole range of movements. But for the fifth digit, we really just have flexion and rotation. Now let’s look at the joints of the digits, the joints of the digits, the