Anatomy study note · Upper limb

Phalanges of the hand

The bones of the fingers: three in each finger (proximal, middle and distal) and two in the thumb, fourteen in each hand.

Key points

• 14 per hand: 3 per finger, 2 in the thumb.
• Proximal, middle, distal; base, shaft, head.
• FDS → middle phalanx; FDP → distal phalanx.
• Mallet finger = extensor avulsion at the distal phalanx.
• 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. 239–240, 312–316
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 7, PDF pp. 98, 102–104; ch. 10, PDF pp. 141, 144, 145
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 7, PDF pp. 121–125, 126–129, 130

More from the upper limb

• Pronator quadratus
• Pronator teres
• Radial artery
• Radial nerve
• Radioulnar joints and interosseous membrane
• Radius
• Rhomboid major
• Rhomboid minor
• Scapula
• Serratus anterior
• Shoulder joint
• Sternoclavicular joint

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