Ligament · Hand

Dorsal radiocarpal ligament

Ligamentum radiocarpale dorsale

A broad flat band across the back of the wrist. It leaves the dorsal rim of the lower radius and runs diagonally over the carpus toward the little-finger side, anchoring chiefly into the triquetral with intermediate fibres reaching the lunate. Meeting the dorsal intercarpal ligament at the triquetral, it completes a sideways V lying on the back of the carpus — an arrangement that lets the wrist bend while keeping the proximal row of carpal bones tracking with the forearm. Because it pulls obliquely rather than straight across, it checks both the wrist folding into the palm and the carpus sliding toward the ulna.