Anatomy study note · Upper limb
Wrist joint
A synovial ellipsoid joint between the distal radius and articular disc above and the scaphoid, lunate and triquetrum below.
Key points
- Synovial ellipsoid: radius + disc ↔ scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum.
- Ulna is NOT part of the wrist joint (disc in between).
- Moves in flexion, extension, abduction, adduction; no rotation.
- Adduction > abduction (radial styloid is longer).
- Fall on the outstretched hand: child-epiphysis, teen-clavicle, young adult-scaphoid, elderly-Colles.
- 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. 419–421
- 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
- Abductor pollicis longus
- Acromioclavicular joint
- Adductor pollicis
- Anconeus
- Axillary artery
- Axillary lymph nodes
- Axillary nerve
- Axillary vein
- Basilic vein
- Biceps brachii
- Brachial artery
- Brachial plexus
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