Ligaments of The Hand and Wrist

On the radial shaft of the smaller forearm bone, just below its head, is a process called the "radial tuberosity." It serves to attach the biceps brachi muscle, which bends the arm at the elbow. At the lower end of the radius, a lateral "styloid process" provides attachments for the "palmar radiocarpal ligament" (on the palm of the hand) and the "dorsal radiocarpal ligament" (on the back of the hand) from the radius into the wrist. At the lower end of the larger forearm bone (ulna), its knob-like head articulates with a notch of the radius (ulnar notch) laterally and with a disk of fibrocartilage below. This disk, in turn, joins a wrist bone (the triquetrum). A medial "styloid process" at the lower end of the ulna provides attachments for ligaments ("palmar ulnocarpal ligament" and "dorsal ulnocarpal ligament") into the wrist. The skeleton of the wrist is made up of eight small "carpal bones" that are firmly bound in two rows of four bones each. The mass that results from these bones is called the "carpus." The carpus is rounded on its nearest surface, where it articulates with the radius and with the fibrocartilaginous disk on the ulnar side. The carpus is rounded convexly in the front, forming a canal (retinaculum) through which tendons, ligaments and nerves extend to the palm. Its distal surface articulates with the metacarpal bones, which are joined to the carpus by the "palmar carpometacarpal ligaments."