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The Skeletal System

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By the time a human reaches adulthood, the skeletal system is made up of 206 bones. It also includes all the tendons, cartilages and the networks of ligaments that help to connect them. This system plays a major role in many body functions like movement, protection, support and stability, blood cell production and calcium storage – that enable us to live.
One of the many groups of bones is called phalanges, the bones found in human fingers. It comes from the Latin word “phalanx” meaning “a compact body of heavily armed men in a battle array”. Ossification of these bones happens from two centers: one for the body and the other one for the proximal extremity. It starts in the body, approximately on the eight week of fetal life. While the formation …show more content…

Each hand consists 14 phalanges, making it 28 for both. Each finger has three while for thumb is two only. These are named according to their relationship to the palm or hand, whether they are proximal, intermediate, distal, and according to the finger they are attached to. The proximal phalanges are located at the base of the fingers, just below the carpus. These are actually longer than the carpal bones. Each hand is comprised of five proximal phalanges. The intermediate ones are found in between the proximal and the distal. The thumb lacks this, making it four intermediate phalanges for each hand. The series of bones found at the tip of the hand are the distal phalanges, the smallest among the three, five on each hand. All the phalanges articulate with one another through interphalageal articulations.
The distal phalanges on their palmar surface are flat, small and with a roughened, elevated surface of horseshoe, supporting the digital pulp. The tips of these phalanges, called apical tuffs, are flat and wide. The thumb gives an insertion for the flexor pollicis longus or FPL, ungual fossa, and a pair of ungual spines. The assymmetrical feature of the FPL make sure that the thumb pulp is always facing the pulps of the other digits, which provides the optimum contact surface with held …show more content…

It is a case wherein the extensor tendon that crosses the distal interphalageal joint or DIP responsible for the straightening of the finger is damaged, causing the finger to be deformed. A flexion force applied on the tip of the extended finger pushes the DIP to flex. It usually happens on many athletes. This occurs when an object, for example a ball with a high velocity strikes the finger creating a huge impact to the bones and forcibly bends it. A worse thing can happen, when the force is greater it may pull away a bone along with the tendon. As a result, the tip of the finger can no longer straighten itself. Even a minor movement like folding your clothes can cause this kind of injury. This kind of fracture is identified as an avulsion. The long, ring and pinky fingers are the most likely to be

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The lower end of the humerus has two rounded knobs the lateral and medial condyles. Between the two of these is a hole that extends completely through the bone, this is called the supratrochlear foramen. The ulna and radius act as one bone and are held together firmly by ligaments and always move together. The upper end of the ulna has a hook like process that fits perfectly in the supratrochlear foramen of the humerus. On the ulna there is a ridge called the trochlear notch, this fits against and rotates between the medial and lateral condyles on the humerus.

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It may also be caused by medial epicondylitis, bony spurs, osteoarthritis, cubitus valgus, tumors, bending the elbow excessively, or subluxation of the nerve on the medial epicondyle. Additionally, cubital tunnel syndrome may occur if the humerus or ulna is

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When a child falls off the monkey bars and lands right on their outstretched hand, they most likely injured their wrist, or fractures the dorsal end of their distal radius bone. In fact, fractures to the distal radius bone makeup up 8 to 15 percent of bone injuries according to epidemiologists, and are about twenty percent of all fractures.² A form of distal radius fracture, is commonly known as the Colles’ fracture; which is a result of a fall of traumatic event landing on an outstretched hand bending the distal radius backwards on the wrist by swelling and deformity. Abraham Colles first described this injury in 1814 before X-Rays were available.⁵ This type of fracture identified by Colles occurs after a fall, trauma or osteoporosis. Patients

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Data regarding their medical condition, instrument played, length of time off the instrument following surgery and the time taken to return to full normal professional playing were recorded and analyzed. According to the data analysis only 0.8% of subjects were found to have trigger finger, total time off instruments was 2 weeks and total time until full playing was 5 weeks [12]. A cross sectional study conducted by Danit Langer et al, at School of Occupational Therapy, Hadassah and Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel in 2016. The study reports that the incidence of trigger finger in general population is 2.6% and 10% in diabetes patients

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The phalanges are not separately mobile, being bound by ligaments, so the claws from one functional whole. Its muscles work by means of contraction. They contain more retractor muscles than the extensor muscles. A retractor muscle, in sloth makes them cling onto the branches of a tree in a long period of time; they lack extensor muscles thus making it hard for

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The carpal tunnel functions as an entrance to the palm for many tendons and median nerve (1). The median nerve is one of the five branches that make up the brachial plexus. This nerve provides motor innervation to the flexor muscles of the forearm and hand as well as muscles responsible for movements of the thumb. It also provides sensory innervation to the volar aspects of the first three digits and half of the fourth digit, the palm, and the medial region of the forearm (2). Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common painful disorder of the wrist and hand.

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Anatomy and Physiology: Exploring Body Systems and the Organs The structural organization of the human body of composed of levels. Starting with only chemicals, the levels progress to ultimately form the organism as a whole. The body is organized into 12 systems. The systems have their own separate function for the body, but they all work together to keep you alive. Your body needs support for movement, structure, and body temperature regulation with the skeletal, muscular and integumentary systems.

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A mallet finger presents itself when there is a sudden struck of force onto a resisting distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint flexion of the finger by an approaching object or even just smashing the fingertip against a stationary object causing pain and tenderness to be exhibit at the dorsum part of the distal phalanx base (Buttaravoli & Leffler, 2012, p.415). The distal phalanges are attached by the extensor tendon which is a projection from the extensor digitorum muscle that allows the finger to be straightened but if the extensor tendon is injured, then the finger would fail to be straightened by its own strength but it is only possible by another hand. Commonly, the extensor tendon is pulled from the bone but there are cases where the bone

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