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| Metacarpophalangeal joint | |
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| Metacarpophalangeal articulation and articulations of digit. Volar aspect. | |
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| Metacarpophalangeal articulation and articulations of digit. Ulnar aspect. | |
| Latin | articulationes metacarpophalangeae |
| Gray's | subject #90 332 |
| MeSH | Metacarpophalangeal+Joint |
The metacarpophalangeal joints (MCP) are of the condyloid kind, formed by the reception of the rounded heads of the metacarpal bones into shallow cavities on the proximal ends of the first phalanges, with the exception of that of the thumb, which presents more of the characters of a ginglymoid joint.
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Ligaments
Each joint has:
- palmar ligaments of metacarpophalangeal articulations
- collateral ligaments of metacarpophalangeal articulations
Dorsal surfaces
The dorsal surfaces of these joints are covered by the expansions of the Extensor tendons, together with some loose areolar tissue which connects the deep surfaces of the tendons to the bones.
Movements
The movements which occur in these joints are flexion, extension, adduction, abduction, and circumduction; the movements of abduction and adduction are very limited, and cannot be performed when the fingers are flexed.
The muscles of flexion and extension are as follows:
| Location | Flexion | Extension |
| fingers | Flexor digitorum superficialis and profundus, lumbricales, and interossei, assisted in the case of the little finger by the flexor digiti minimi brevis | extensor digitorum communis, extensor indicis proprius, and extensor digiti minimi muscle |
| thumb | flexores pollicis longus and brevis | extensores pollicis longus and brevis |
Additional images
 Human hand bones |
External links
- Hand kinesiology at UK bone/mpartic.html
- EatonHand joi-047
- Metacarpophalangeal+joint at eMedicine Dictionary
- Diagram in contextdead link
This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.
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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 18 July 2008, at 16:59.
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