Anatomy study note · Upper limb

Elbow joint

A synovial hinge joint between the trochlea and capitulum of the humerus and the trochlear notch of the ulna and head of the radius. It allows flexion and extension only.

Key points

• Synovial hinge: flexion/extension only.
• Humeroulnar + humeroradial; shares its cavity with the proximal radioulnar joint.
• Carrying angle ≈ 170° (M), 167° (F).
• Epicondyles + olecranon: line in extension, triangle in flexion.
• Ulnar nerve behind the medial epicondyle → injured in dislocations.
• Joint: from mesenchyme between bone ends.
• Synovial cavity forms in the middle layer.
• Synovial membrane: type A (phagocytic) + type B (secretory) cells.
• Joint surfaces: hyaline cartilage, no perichondrium.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Relations · Features · Action · Nerve supply · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 3, PDF pp. 408–412
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 10, PDF p. 144
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 7, PDF pp. 117–120, 131

More from the upper limb

• Extensor carpi radialis brevis
• Extensor carpi radialis longus
• Extensor carpi ulnaris
• Extensor digiti minimi
• Extensor digitorum
• Extensor indicis
• Extensor pollicis brevis
• Extensor pollicis longus
• Extensor retinaculum of the wrist
• Flexor carpi radialis
• Flexor carpi ulnaris
• Flexor digitorum profundus

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