Thumb Ligaments Anatomy

Accessory collateral ligament and volar plate resists valgus load with thumb in extension. It allows the thumb to act like a post.

Applied Anatomy Of The Wrist Thumb And Hand

Thumb carpometacarpal ligaments inside and out.

Thumb ligaments anatomy. Recognize normal morphologic variations of the relevant thumb tendons and ligaments to facilitate accurate and confident diagnoses of thumb soft tissue abnormalities. This ligament is responsible for preventing hyperextension. The collateral ligaments are called the anterior and posterior ligaments.

Injury to this ligament is sometimes called skiers thumb because it is a common injury from a ski pole. Chase hand and upper limb center at stanford university andrew y. The normal mr imaging appearance of the thumb cmc joint ligaments is demonstrated in figures 5 and 6.

Ladd md 1. The most common ligament to be injured in the thumb is the ulnar collateral ligament. The volar plate of the thumb is a very thick ligament that forms the bottom of the interphalangeal joint and separates the joint space from the tendon sheath.

Zhang md 1 sarah van nortwick ba 1 elisabet hagert md 1 2 and amy l. But with enough hyperextension force the volar plate can be sprained or ruptured. This tendon helps you move the thumb away from the palm to form an open hand.

The dorsal ligaments form a near continuous deltoid shaped ligament complex best seen in the sagittal plane. The thumb joint has two collateral ligaments as well as the capsule which is lined by a synovial membrane. The volar and dorsal ligaments of the thumb cmc joint are best seen on sagittal images and the iml is best seen in the coronal plane.

Extensor pollicis brevis. The radial collateral ligament is on the other side of the thumb. The joint that is affected is called the metacarpophalangeal joint or mcp joint.

However their pathology can be different. This helps connect the thumb to the hand on the side near the index finger. When the thumb is straight the collateral ligaments are tight and stabilize the joint against valgus force.

This tendon helps you bend the thumb. This tendon travels along the back of the thumb and helps straighten the thumb. There are four thumb tendons.

Introduction no structure in the human body has an anatomy as intricate or a range of motion as complex as the thumb. Valgus laxity in both flexion and extension is indicative of a complete ucl rupture. Any hard force on the thumb that pulls the thumb away from the hand called a valgus force can cause damage to the ulnar collateral ligaments.

Ucl is composed of proper collateral ligament resists valgus load with thumb in flexion. A comparative study of arthroscopic and gross anatomy from the robert a. The ligaments of the metacarpophalangeal mp joints proximal interphalangeal pip joints distal interphalangeal dip joints and the interphalangeal ip joint of the thumb are all very similar in configuration.

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