Flexor pollicis longus at a glance
- What it is
- A deep forearm flexor of the thumb.
- Location
- Origin: anterior surface of the radius and adjacent interosseous membrane. Insertion: base of the distal phalanx of the thumb.
- Function
- Flexes the distal phalanx of the thumb.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA38482 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: anterior interosseous nerve (C8–T1)
- Its tendon passes through the carpal tunnel
Structures next to the flexor pollicis longus
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Extensor pollicis longus · muscular
- Flexor digitorum profundus · muscular
- Extensor pollicis brevis · muscular
- Pronator quadratus · muscular
- Extensor digitorum · muscular
- Flexor digitorum superficialis · muscular
- Abductor pollicis longus · muscular
- Scaphoid · skeletal
- Trapezium · skeletal
- Lunate · skeletal
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Flexor pollicis longus (FMA38482). 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.