Anatomy study note · Upper limb

Metacarpal bones

Five miniature long bones in the palm, numbered from the thumb. Each has a base, a shaft (body) and a head; the heads form the knuckles.

Key points

• Base (proximal), shaft, head (knuckle).
• MC1: shortest, most mobile, rotated 90° → opposition.
• Boxer's fracture = neck of MC5.
• Bennett fracture = base of MC1 into the CMC joint.
• Shaft: primary centre; ends: secondary centres; growth at the epiphyseal plate.
• Limb bones: limb-bud mesenchyme, endochondral (except clavicle).
• Long bone: endochondral ossification; epiphyseal plate closes ~20 y.
• Bone: type I collagen + hydroxyapatite.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 3, PDF pp. 238–240
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 7, PDF pp. 98, 102–104; ch. 10, PDF pp. 141, 145
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 7, PDF pp. 121–125, 126–129, 130

More from the upper limb

• Metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints of the hand
• Musculocutaneous nerve
• Nerve to subclavius
• Palmar aponeurosis
• Palmaris longus
• Pectoral nerves
• Pectoralis major
• Pectoralis minor
• Phalanges of the hand
• Pronator quadratus
• Pronator teres
• Radial artery

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