Dorsal interossei of hand at a glance
- What it is
- Four bipennate muscles between the metacarpals that spread the fingers.
- Location
- Each arises from the adjacent sides of two metacarpals and inserts onto the base of the proximal phalanx and extensor expansion of the index, middle (both sides) and ring fingers.
- Function
- Abduct the fingers away from the middle finger and, with the lumbricals, flex the metacarpophalangeal joints and extend the interphalangeal joints.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA42404 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: deep branch of the ulnar nerve (C8–T1)
- Blood supply: dorsal metacarpal and palmar metacarpal arteries
Clinical relevance
The mnemonic DAB stands for dorsal interossei abduct.
Structures next to the dorsal interossei of hand
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Third metacarpal bone · skeletal
- Second metacarpal bone · skeletal
- Palmar metacarpal artery · cardiovascular
- Dorsal venous network of hand · cardiovascular
- Palmar interossei of hand · muscular
- Transverse head of adductor pollicis · muscular
- Extensor indicis · muscular
- Fourth metacarpal bone · skeletal
- Lumbricals of hand · muscular
- Oblique head of adductor pollicis · muscular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Dorsal interossei of hand (FMA42404). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §11.2 Naming Skeletal Muscles. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.