The (intrinsic) muscles of the hand are a collection of muscles arranged in 5 compartments, originating and inserting in the hand. They are important for fine motor and precision movements of the fingers and the thumb.

Figure 1. Muscles of the hand (Credit: OpenStax, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Description

The muscles of the hand can be classified into extrinsic and intrinsic muscle groups.

The extrinsic muscles are found in the forearm, providing the entire hand with movement, while the intrinsic muscles are a collection muscles arranged in 5 compartments, originating and inserting in the hand. They are important for fine motor and precision movements of the fingers and the thumb.

Compartments

The intrinsic muscles of the hand are found in 5 compartments:

  1. Interosseous compartment, containing the dorsal and palmar interossei muscles
  2. Adductor compartment, containing the adductor pollicis muscle
  3. Thenar compartment, containing the thenar muscles
  4. Hypothenar compartment, containing the hypothenar muscles
  5. Central compartment, containing the lumbrical muscles

All the intrinsic muscles of the hand are innervated by the deep branch of the ulnar nerve, except three thenar muscles and the two lateral lumbrical muscles, which are innervated

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