Wrist Health Dictionary

The joint between the hand and the arm that allows the hand to be bent forward and backward relative to the arm and also to be moved side to side.

The wrist contains 8 bones (known collectively as the carpus) arranged in 2 rows, one articulating with the bones of the forearm, and the other connecting to the bones of the palm. Tendons connect the forearm muscles to the fingers and thumb, and arteries and nerves supply the muscles, bones, and skin of the hand and fingers.

Wrist injuries may lead to serious disability by limiting hand movement. A common injury in adults is Colles’ fracture, in which the lower end of the radius is fractured and the wrist and hand aredisplaced backwards. In young children, similar displacement results from a fracture through the epiphysis (growing end) of the radius. A sprain can affect ligaments at the wrist joint, but most wrist sprains are not severe. (See also carpal tunnel syndrome; wrist-drop; tenosynovitis; and osteoarthritis.)

The joint situated between the arm above and the hand below. The region of the wrist contains eight small carpal bones, arranged in two rows, each containing four bones. Those in the row nearest the forearm are – from the outside inwards when looking at the palm of the hand – the scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, and pisiform.

Those in the row nearest the hand are the trapezium, trapezoid, capitate and hamate. These latter articulate with the metacarpal bones in the hand and are closely bound to one another by short, strong ligaments; and the wrist-joint is the union of the composite mass thus formed with the RADIUS and ULNA in the forearm. The wrist and the radius and ulna are united by strong outer and inner lateral ligaments, and by weaker ligaments before and behind, whilst the powerful tendons passing to the hand and ?ngers strengthen the wrist.

The joint can move in all directions, and its shape and many ligaments mean that it rarely dislocates – although stretching or tearing of some of these ligaments is a common accident, constituting a sprain. (See JOINTS, DISEASES OF.) In?ammation of the tendon-sheaths may occur as a result of injury or repetitive movement (see UPPER LIMB DISORDERS). A fairly common condition is the presence of a GANGLION, in which an elastic swelling full of ?uid develops on the back or front of the wrist in connection with the sheaths of the tendons. (See also HAND.)

n. 1. the joint between the forearm and hand. It consists of the proximal bones of the *carpus, which articulate with the radius and ulna. 2. the whole region of the wrist joint, including the carpus and lower parts of the radius and ulna.