Name

# 1st Metacarpal

Pronunciation

(meta-kar-pal)

Notes

The first metacarpal bone (os metacarpale I; metacarpal bone of the thumb) [Fig. 1] is shorter and stouter than the others, diverges to a greater degree from the carpus, and its volar surface is directed toward the palm. The body is flattened and broad on its dorsal surface, and does not present the ridge which is found on the other metacarpal bones; its volar surface is concave from above downward. On its radial border is inserted the opponens pollicis muscle; its ulnar border gives origin to the lateral head of the first .Interosseus dorsalis. The base presents a concavo-convex surface, for articulation with the greater multangular; it has no facets on its sides, but on its radial side is a tubercle for the insertion of the Abductor pollicis longus. The head is less convex than those of the other metacarpal bones, and is broader from side to side than from before backward. On its volar surface are two articular eminences, of which the lateral is the larger, for the two sesamoid bones in the tendons of the flexor pollicis brevis muscle.