| Flexor retinaculum of the hand | |
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| The mucous sheaths of the tendons on the front of the wrist and digits. (Transverse carpal ligament labeled at center.) | |
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| The muscles of the thumb. (Trans. carpal ligament labeled at center.) | |
| Latin | retinaculum musculorum flexorum manus, ligamentum carpi transversum |
| Gray's | subject #126 456 |
The flexor retinaculum (transverse carpal ligament, or anterior annular ligament) is a strong, fibrous band, which arches over the carpus, converting the deep groove on the front of the carpal bones into a tunnel, the carpal tunnel, through which the Flexor tendons of the digits and the median nerve pass.
It is attached, medially, to the pisiform and the hamulus of the hamate bone; laterally, to the tubercle of the scaphoid, and to the medial part of the volar surface and the ridge of the trapezium.
It is continuous, superficially, with the volar carpal ligament; and deep, with the palmar aponeurosis. It is crossed by the ulnar vessels and nerve, and the cutaneous branches of the median and ulnar nerves.
At its lateral end is the tendon of the Flexor carpi radialis, which lies in the groove on the greater multangular between the attachments of the ligament to the bone.
On its volar surface the tendons of the Palmaris longus and Flexor carpi ulnaris are partly inserted; below, it gives origin to the short muscles of the thumb and little finger.
See also
Additional images
 Transverse section across the wrist and digits. |
 The muscles of the left hand. Palmar surface. |
 The radial and ulnar arteries. |
External links
- SUNY Figs 08:04-08
- Hand kinesiology at UK ligaments/wvstflexret.htm
- lesson5flexretinac&palmapon at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University)
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