Ligament · Hand

Dorsal intermetacarpal ligaments

Ligamenta metacarpalia dorsalia

Short transverse bands joining the neighbouring bases of the second to fifth metacarpals across the back of the hand. With their palmar counterparts, and the stouter interosseous bands set between the bones, they lock those four bases into a shallow arch that barely moves. That fixed base is why the index and middle rays feel rigid to push against, while the ring and little rays keep a little give where they meet the carpus. They lie immediately under the extensor tendons — easy to trace on a dissected hand, impossible to isolate through the skin.