Ligament · Hand

Palmar radiocarpal ligament

Ligamentum radiocarpale palmare

The thickest ligamentous wall of the wrist, and the one that does most of the holding. Its fibres rise from the palmar rim and styloid process of the radius and pass downward and toward the little finger to reach the scaphoid, the lunate and the neck of the capitate — the bands anatomists name separately as the radioscaphocapitate and the long and short radiolunate ligaments. It is stouter than the dorsal ligament opposite it, and it is the main brake on the wrist bending backwards. Between two of its bands, opposite the head of the capitate, the palmar wall is left comparatively thin: a real interval in an otherwise dense sheet.