A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of

the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few
other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "hand" and
fingerprints extremely similar to human fingerprints) are often described as having "hands" instead
of paws on their front limbs. The raccoon is usually described as having "hands" though opposable
thumbs are lacking.[1]
Some evolutionary anatomists use the term hand to refer to the appendage of digits on the forelimb
more generally — for example, in the context of whether the three digits of the bird hand involved
the same homologous loss of two digits as in the dinosaur hand.[2]
The human hand normally has five digits: four fingers plus one thumb;[3][4] these are often referred
to collectively as five fingers, however, whereby the thumb is included as one of the
fingers.[3][5][6] It has 27 bones, not including the sesamoid bone, the number of which varies
between people,[7] 14 of which are the phalanges (proximal, intermediate and distal) of the fingers
and thumb. The metacarpal bones connect the fingers and the carpal bones of the wrist. Each human
hand has five metacarpals[8] and eight carpal bones.
Fingers contain some of the densest areas of nerve endings in the body, and are the richest source
of tactile feedback. They also have the greatest positioning capability of the body; thus, the sense of
touch is intimately associated with hands. Like other paired organs (eyes, feet, legs) each hand is
dominantly controlled by the opposing brain hemisphere, so that handedness—the preferred hand
choice for single-handed activities such as writing with a pencil, reflects individual brain
functioning.
Among humans, the hands play an important function in body language and sign language.
Likewise the ten digits of two hands, and the twelve phalanges of four fingers (touchable by the
thumb) have given rise to number systems and calculation techniques.

Contents

 1Structure
 1.1Areas
 1.2Bones
 1.2.1Arches
 1.3Muscles

 1.3.1Intrinsic
 1.3.2Extrinsic
 1.4Nerve supply
 1.5Skin
 1.6Variation
 2Clinical significance
 3Evolution
 4Additional images
 5See also
 6Notes
 7References
 8External links

Structure[edit]
Many mammals and other animals have grasping appendages similar in form to a hand such
as paws, claws, and talons, but these are not scientifically considered to be grasping hands. The
scientific use of the term hand in this sense to distinguish the terminations of the front paws from
the hind ones is an example of anthropomorphism. The only true grasping hands appear in the
mammalian order of primates. Hands must also have opposable thumbs, as described later in the
text.
The hand is located at the distal end of each arm. Apes and monkeys are sometimes described as
having four hands, because the toes are long and the hallux is opposable and looks more like
a thumb, thus enabling the feet to be used as hands.
The word "hand" is sometimes used by evolutionary anatomists to refer to the appendage of digits
on the forelimb such as when researching the homology between the three digitsof the bird hand
and the dinosaur hand.[2]
An adult human male's hand weighs about a pound.[9]
Areas[edit]

Human hand parts

Areas of the human hand include:

 The palm (Volar), which is the central region of the anterior part of the hand, located
superficially to the metacarpus. The skin in this area contains dermal papillae to increase
friction, such as are also present on the fingers and used for fingerprints.
 The opisthenar area (dorsal) is the corresponding area on the posterior part of the hand.
 The heel of the hand is the area anteriorly to the bases of the metacarpal bones, located in
the proximal part of the palm. It is the area that sustains most pressure when using the palm of
the hand for support, such as in handstand.
There are five digits attached to the hand, notably with a nail fixed to the end in place of the
normal claw. The four fingers can be folded over the palm which allows the grasping of objects.
Each finger, starting with the one closest to the thumb, has a colloquial name to distinguish it from
the others:

 index finger, pointer finger, forefinger, or 2nd digit

 middle finger or long finger or 3rd dig