Palmar interossei of hand at a glance
- What it is
- Small unipennate muscles in the palm that bring the fingers together.
- Location
- Arise from the palmar surfaces of the second, fourth and fifth metacarpals and insert onto the proximal phalanx and extensor expansion of the same finger.
- Function
- Adduct the fingers toward the middle finger and assist the lumbricals in flexing the metacarpophalangeal and extending the interphalangeal joints.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA42402 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: deep branch of the ulnar nerve (C8–T1)
- Commonly counted as three, or four if the thumb's small first palmar interosseous is included
Clinical relevance
The mnemonic PAD stands for palmar interossei adduct.
Structures next to the palmar interossei of hand
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Dorsal interossei of hand · muscular
- Third metacarpal bone · skeletal
- Lumbricals of hand · muscular
- Fourth metacarpal bone · skeletal
- Dorsal venous network of hand · cardiovascular
- Palmar metacarpal artery · cardiovascular
- Second metacarpal bone · skeletal
- Transverse head of adductor pollicis · muscular
- Fifth metacarpal bone · skeletal
- Extensor indicis · muscular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Palmar interossei of hand (FMA42402). 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.