Most Things Biology

Hands and Feet: Carpals

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3–5 minutes

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An illustration with a white background featuring two skeletal hands. Each hand is palm-up, clearly showing the anatomy of the wrist, palm, and finger bones. They are rendered in beige, with lighter shades at the joints, and represent human hand bones from a dorsal view.
Two skeletal hands, palms up, displaying the bone structure of the wrists, palms, and fingers
  • Scaphoid
  • Lunate
  • Triquetral
  • Pisiform
  • Trapezium
  • Trapezoid
  • Capitate
  • Hamate
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You can assign names to the phalanges and metacarpals easily. You just need to know the rules of numbering the digits and naming the phalanges.  What is most difficult is the name of the carpals, or the wrist bones.  There are many mnemonics that you can memorize.  The thing is that you have to know where to start naming the bones with those.  You start at the wrong bone and you get them all wrong.  So, even if you know the mnemonic, you have to know the absolute position of at least one bone.  

There are some books and resources that tell you that there are two rows of four bones.  Maybe. That is not readily evident to me when I look at the carpals. So, don’t feel bad if you don’t see two rows either! The problem is that these four rows can really only be seen from an anterior view. Further complicating things is that the pisiform bone is like an appendage, rather than an end cap.

Before you get all turned around, I want to note something important. My pictures here are of the anterior view of a right hand. They are also of the posterior view of a left hand. It’s just the pictures I can legally use here! Labeled on the anterior right hand (picture below) are the sesamoid bones of the first digit. These little round protrusions come from the proximal phalanx of the 1st digit. You can view them only from the anterior side of the hand.

I always start with identifying at least one bone that I absolutely know I know.  Then , I construct the others around and in relation to that one. I absolutely know the capitate, which lies underneath the digit #3 metacarpal. The name makes me think of the word decapitation, an act suitable for the worst of horror movies.  Viewed from the anterior or posterior, the articulation of the capitate and the digit #3 metacarpal is always evident.

The hamate lies medial to the capitate bone. It articulates with the digit #4 metacarpal and the digit #5 metacarpal. Therefore, it is more to the side of the hand with the pinky finger.  It is a relatively large carpal. It’s articulation with the metacarpal of digit #4 can be easily seen from anterior posterior. On the left posterior hand picture here, you can clearly see the hamate’s articulation with the 4th metacarpal. You can also see its articulation with the 5th metacarpal.

The trapezoid and the trapezium are easily mixed up, owing to their names.  Then, throw in the triquetral carpal and there are too many Ts to remember.   Both the trapezium and the trapezoid lie lateral to the capitate, but the trapezoid is right next to the capitate.  The trapezium articulates with your thumb. It is the cause of the opposable thumb movement. This movement separates us from animals such as T-Rex (another reason why those arms are so useless). I always associate the movement of the thumb with a trapeze – moving back and forth. Bob’s Burgers has an episode like when Bob and Gene use the trapeze. They refuse to let go of each other.   The metacarpal of digit #1 articulates with the trapezium whereas the metacarpal of digit #2 articulates with the trapezoid. OK, so those are the four bones of the distal carpals. These all articulate with a metacarpal very clearly.

There is a proximal row of four carpals.  Starting medially, there is the pisiform, which means pea-shaped.  This bone isn’t really visible from the posterior view of the hand.  It depends on the pictures.  The triquetrum, also called the triquetral, is the one that the pisiform looks like it’s attached to.  It isn’t attached, but in a laboratory setting, the pisiform is usually glued onto the triquetral. This is often done when we examine skeleton hands. Neither of these two bones articulate with a metacarpal.  Instead, these two bones articulate with the ulna.

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Anatomical illustration of the posterior hand skeleton featuring the radius, ulna, carpals, metacarpals, and phalanges. Key structures are labeled with green lines pointing to the styloid process, 5th metacarpals, proximal phalanx, intermediate phalanx, and distal phalanx of the little finger.
Posterior view of hand skeleton labeled with styloid process, metacarpals, and phalanges.
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The image shows a posterior view of the bones in a human hand. The bones, rendered in gray, are labeled with green lines pointing to each respective bone. They span from the distal radius and ulna down through the carpal bones. The carpal bones labeled are the Pisiform, Triquetrum, Hamate, Capitate, Trapezoid, Lunate, Scaphoid, and Trapezium. The bones create the metacarpals that make up part of the fingers.
Posterior view of hand bones: pisiform, triquetrum, hamate, capitate, trapezoid, lunate, scaphoid, trapezium.
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