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Metacarpophalangeal joint

Bodily joint at the base of each finger

Field	Value
Name	Metacarpophalangeal joint
Latin	articulationes metacarpophalangeae
Image	Grant 1962 104 MCP.png
Caption	The palmar aspect of the hand showing the epiphyses of the hand exploded. MCP joints in red.
Width	250
Image2	DIP, PIP and MCP joints of hand.jpg
Caption2	The DIP, PIP and MCP joints of the hand: MetaCarpoPhalangeal joints, and the interphalangeal joints of the hand:
Width2	120
System	099

Distal InterPhalangeal
Proximal InterPhalangeal

The metacarpophalangeal joints (MCP) are situated between the metacarpal bones and the proximal phalanges of the fingers. These joints 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 proximal phalanges. Being condyloid, they allow the movements of flexion, extension, abduction, adduction and circumduction (see anatomical terms of motion) at the joint.

Structure

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.

Function

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 while the fingers form a fist.Gray's Anatomy (1918), see infobox

The muscles of flexion and extension are as follows:

Location	Flexion	Extension
fingers	Flexor digitorum superficialis and profundus, lumbricals, 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	flexor pollicis longus and brevis	extensor pollicis longus and brevis

Clinical significance

Arthritis of the MCP is a distinguishing feature of rheumatoid arthritis, as opposed to the distal interphalangeal joint in osteoarthritis.

Other animals

In many quadrupeds, particularly horses and other larger animals, the metacarpophalangeal joint is referred to as the "fetlock". This term is translated literally as "foot-lock". In fact, although the term fetlock does not specifically apply to other species' metacarpophalangeal joints (for instance, humans), the "second" or "mid-finger" knuckle of the human hand does anatomically correspond to the fetlock on larger quadrupeds. For lack of a better term, the shortened name may seem more practical.

References

Drake, Vogl and Mitchell. (2015). "Grey's Anatomy for Students, 3rd Edition". Churchill Livingstone, Elsevier.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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