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Information about Finger

Human fingers; 15kb

Fingers of the human left hand


A finger is a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of humans and other primates. Normally humans have five digits on each hand (exceptions are polydactyly, hypodactyly and digit loss). The first digit is the thumb, followed by index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger or pinky. Some other languages use the same generic term for all five digits of a hand.

Linguistically, it appears that the original sense was to include the thumb as a finger: penkwe-ros (also rendered as penqrós) was, in the inferred Proto-Indo-European language, a suffixed form of penkwe (or penqe), "five", which has given rise to many Indo-European-family words (tens of them defined in English dictionaries) that involve or flow from concepts of fiveness.

Chimpanzees have lower limbs that are specialized for manipulation, and (arguably) have fingers on their lower limbs as well. The term 'finger' is not applied to the digits of most other animals, such as canines, felines, or ungulates, none of which can engage in fine manipulation with their forelimbs as a human can.

Function

Enlarge picture
Close-up of the left forefinger's distal phalanx
Each finger may flex and extend, abduct and adduct; therefore it may also circumduct. Flexion is by far the strongest movement. In humans, there are two large muscles that produce flexion of each finger, and additional muscles that augment the movement. Each finger may move independently of the others, though the muscle bulks that move each finger may be partly blended, and the tendons may be attached to each other by a net of fibrous tissue, preventing completely free movement. This is particularly noticeable when trying to extend the fourth digit (third finger) with the others flexed.

Fingers are usually moved under conscious control. In humans, they are used for grasping, typing, grooming, writing, caressing, and many other activities. They are also used in signaling, as when wearing a wedding ring, finger counting or when communicating in sign language.

Aside from the genitals, the fingertips possess the highest concentration of touch receptors and thermoreceptors among all areas of the human skin, making them extremely sensitive to heat (and cold), pressure, vibration, texture, and moisture. Fingers are thus commonly used as sensory probes to ascertain properties of objects encountered in the world, and in such a role, they are prone to injury.

Fingers do not contain muscles other than arrector pili muscles. The muscles that move the finger joints are in the palm and forearm. The long tendons that deliver motion from the forearm muscles may be observed to move underneath the skin at the wrist and on the back of the hand.

Fingers

Each of the fingers has unique cultural and functional significance. From the thumb on the radial side to the ulnar side of the hand, the fingers are in this order:
  1. thumb
  2. index finger, also called 'pointer finger', 'first finger', or 'forefinger'
  3. middle finger, the longest
  4. ring finger, also known as fourth finger
  5. little finger, also known as 'pinky'

Disease

A rare anatomical variation affects 1 in 500 humans, in which the individual has more than the usual number of digits; this is known as polydactyly. A human may also be born without one or more fingers, leading to a reduced total number.

Falanges are commonly fractured. A damaged tendon can cause significant loss of function in fine motor control, such as with a mallet finger.

The fingers are commonly affected by diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and gout. Diabetics often use the fingers to obtain blood samples for regular blood sugar testing. Raynaud's phenomenon is a neurovascular disorder that affects the fingers.

See also

External links

 •  • [ e]
Human anatomical features
HEAD: Skull - Forehead – Eye – Ear – Nose – Mouth – Tongue – Teeth – Jaw – Face – Cheek – Chin NECK: Throat - Larynx – Adam's apple TORSO: Shoulders – Spine – Breast – Chest – Ribcage – Abdomen – Navel
:Sex organs (Clitoris/Vagina/Ovary/Uterus/Penis/Scrotum/Testicle) – Hip – Anus – Buttocks
LIMBS: Arm – Elbow – Forearm – Wrist – Hand – Finger (Thumb/Index/Middle/Ring/Little) – Leg – Lap – Thigh – Knee – Calf – Heel – Ankle – Foot – Toe (Hallux) SKIN: Hair
 •  • [ e]
General anatomy of upper limbs
Arm
Forearm
Hand
Digit may refer to:
  • A finger, thumb, or toe
  • Slang for a phone number, as in "May I have your digits to call you."
  • Numerical digit, as used in mathematics or computer science
  • Digit (unit), an ancient measurement unit

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The hands (med./lat.: manus, pl. manūs) are the two intricate, prehensile, multi-fingered body parts normally located at the end of each arm (medically: "terminating each anterior limb/appendage") of a human or other primate.
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Primates
Linnaeus, 1758

Families
  • 15, See classification
A primate is any member of the biological order Primates, the group that contains all the species commonly related to the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the last category
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Polydactyly
Classification & external resources

ICD-10 Q 69.
ICD-9 755.0

OMIM 603598
DiseasesDB 24853

eMedicine derm/692  

Polydactyly or polydactylism (from the Greek poly = "many" + daktylos
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In biology, dactyly is the arrangement of (fingers and toes) on the hands, feet, or sometimes wings of a tetrapod animal. It comes from the Greek word δακτυλος = "finger".

Sometimes the ending "-dactylia" is used.
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The thumb is one of the five fingers.

Anatomy of the thumb

Bones

The thumb consists of 3 bones:
  • distal phalanx (of the first digit)
  • proximal phalanx (of the first digit)
  • first metacarpal

Muscles


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The second digit of a human hand is also referred to as the index finger, pointer finger, forefinger, digitus secundus, or digitus II.

It is located between the first and third digits - that is, between the thumb and the middle finger.
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The ring finger is the fourth digit of the human hand, and the second most ulnar finger, located between the middle finger and the little finger. It is also called digitus medicinalis, the fourth finger, digitus annularis, digitus quartus
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The little finger, often called the pinky in American English and pinkie in Scottish English (from the Dutch word pink, meaning little finger), is the most ulnar and usually smallest finger of the human hand, opposite the thumb, next to the ring finger.
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Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans. Although the existence of such a language has been accepted by linguists for a long time, there has been debate about many specific
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Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, the northern Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and much of Central Asia.
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Panina

Genus: Pan
Oken, 1816

Type species
Simia troglodytes
Blumenbach, 1775

distribution of Pan spp.

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Canidae
G. Fischer de Waldheim, 1817

Genera
  • Alopex
  • Atelocynus
  • Canis
  • Cerdocyon
  • Chrysocyon
  • Cuon
  • Cynotherium †
  • Dusicyon †
  • Dasycyon

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Felidae
G. Fischer de Waldheim, 1817

Subfamilies

Felinae
Pantherinae
†Machairodontinae
Felidae is the biological family of the cats; a member of this family is called a felid.
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flexion is a position that is made possible by the joint angle decreasing. The skeletal (bones, cartilage, and ligaments) and muscular (muscles and tendons) systems work together to move the joint into a "flexed" position.
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Extension may refer to:
  • Extension (kinesiology), a movement of a joint in which one part of the body is moved away from another.
  • Extension (metaphysics), the property of taking up space
  • Extension (semantics), the set of things to which a property applied

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Abduction, in functional anatomy, is a movement which draws a limb away from the median (Sagittal) plane of the body. It is thus opposed to adduction.

Muscles of abduction

Upper limb

the coming together of two bones attached by a joint laterally

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Adduction is a movement which brings a limb - arm or leg - closer to the sagittal plane of the body. It is opposed to abduction.

This term is also used when one speaks about the operation of the muscle in anatomy or musculature.
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Type may refer to:

In computing:
  • Data type, collection of values used for computations
  • Type system, defines a programming language's response to data types
  • Type theory, basis for the study of type systems
In mathematics:

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Grooming redirects here.


Groom may refer to:

Offices and jobs:
  • Groom (horses), a person responsible for the feeding and care of horses

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Writing, is the representation of language in a textual medium; that is with the use of signs or symbols. It is distinguished from illustration such as cave drawings and paintings, and recording language via a non-textual medium such as magnetic tape audio.
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Physical intimacy is informal proximity and/or touching. It can be enjoyed by itself and/or be an expression of feelings (such as close friendship, love, and/or sexual attraction) which people have for one another.
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A wedding ring or wedding band consists of a precious metal ring, in certain countries (UK, USA, Brazil) worn on the base of the left ring finger – the fourth finger (counting from the thumb) of the left hand.
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Finger counting, or dactylonomy, is the art of counting along one's fingers. Though marginalized in modern societies by the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, formerly different systems flourished in many cultures, including educated methods far more sophisticated than the
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sign language (also signed language) is a language which uses manual communication, body language and lip patterns instead of sound to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to
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A sex organ, or primary sexual characteristic, as narrowly defined, is any of those anatomical parts of the body which are involved in sexual reproduction and constitute the reproductive system in a complex organism; namely:

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Somatic sensation consists of the various sensory receptors that trigger the experiences labelled as touch or pressure, temperature (warm or cold), pain (including itch and tickle), and the sensations of muscle movement and joint position including posture, movement, and facial
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A thermoreceptor is a sensory receptor that responds to temperature, primarily within the innocuous range. In the mammalian peripheral nervous system warm receptors are thought to be unmyelinated C-fibres (slow conduction velocity), while those responding to cold have thinly
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