How many bones make up the human hand?

Mettlee

The human hand has 27 bones: the carpus or wrist account for 8; the metacarpus or palm contains 5; the remaining 14 are digital bones, your fingers and thumb. The eight bones of the wrist are arranged in two rows of four. These bones fit into a shallow socket formed by the bones of the forearm. The bones of proximal row are (from lateral to medial): scaphoid, lunate, triquetral and pisiform. The bones of the distal row are (from lateral to medial): trapezium, trapezoid, capitate and hamate. The palm has 5 bones (metacarpals), one to each of the 5 digits. These metacarpals have a head and a shaft. Human hands contain 14 digital bones, also called phalanx bones: 2 in the thumb (the thumb has no middle phalanx) and 3 in each of the four fingers. These are: the distal phalanx, carrying the nail, the middle phalanx and the proximal phalanx. Sesamoid bones are small ossified nodes embedded in the tendons to provide extra leverage and reduce pressure on the underlying tissue. Many exist around the palm at the bases of the digits; the exact number varies between different people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_hand [Added link -- Zb] May 18 08, 1:51 PM