Opponens digiti minimi muscle of hand

Opponens digiti minimi muscle
Deep muscles of the right hand, palmar view.
Details
OriginHook of hamate and flexor retinaculum
InsertionMedial border of 5th metacarpal (in hand, 3rd digit is orientation of mid-line)
ArteryUlnar artery
NerveDeep branch of ulnar nerve (C8 and T1)
ActionsDraws 5th metacarpal anteriorly and rotates it, bringing little finger (5th digit) into opposition with thumb
Identifiers
Latinmusculus opponens digiti minimi
(Old: opponens quinti digiti)
TA98A04.6.02.064
TA22531
FMA37384
Anatomical terms of muscle

The opponens digiti minimi (opponens digiti quinti in older texts) is a muscle in the hand. It is of a triangular form, and placed immediately beneath the palmaris brevis, abductor digiti minimi and flexor digiti minimi brevis. It is one of the three hypothenar muscles that control the little finger.[1]

It arises from the convexity of the hamulus of the hamate bone and the contiguous portion of the transverse carpal ligament; it is inserted into the whole length of the metacarpal bone of the little finger, along its ulnar margin.

The opponens digiti minimi muscle serves to flex and laterally rotate the 5th metacarpal about the 5th carpometacarpal joint, as when bringing the little finger and thumb into opposition. It is innervated by the deep branch of the ulnar nerve.

  1. ^ Uysal, Ahmet Çaǧri; Alagöz, Murat Şahin; Tüccar, Eray; Şensöz, Ömer; Tekdemir, Ibrahim (2005-01-01). "The vascular anatomy of the abductor digiti minimi and the flexor digiti minimi brevis muscles". The Journal of Hand Surgery. 30 (1): 172–176. doi:10.1016/j.jhsa.2004.06.001. ISSN 0363-5023. PMID 15680577.