The opponens digiti minimi (opponens digiti quinti in older texts) is a

muscle Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscle ...

in the

hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each " ...

. It is of a triangular form, and placed immediately beneath the

palmaris brevis Palmaris brevis muscle is a thin, quadrilateral muscle, placed beneath the integument of the ulnar side of the hand. It acts to fold the skin of the hypothenar eminence transversally. Structure Origin and insertion Palmaris brevis muscle is lo ...

, abductor digiti minimi and flexor digiti minimi brevis. It is one of the three

hypothenar muscles The hypothenar muscles are a group of three muscles of the palm that control the motion of the little finger. The three muscles are: * Abductor digiti minimi * Flexor digiti minimi brevis * Opponens digiti minimi Structure The muscles of hypot ...

that control the

little finger The little finger, or pinkie, also known as the baby finger, fifth digit, or pinky finger, is the most ulnar and smallest digit of the human hand, and next to the ring finger. Etymology The word "pinkie" is derived from the Dutch word ''pin ...

. It arises from the convexity of the hamulus of the

hamate bone The hamate bone (from Latin hamatus, "hooked"), or unciform bone (from Latin ''uncus'', "hook"), Latin os hamatum and occasionally abbreviated as just hamatum, is a bone in the human wrist readily distinguishable by its wedge shape and a hook ...

and the contiguous portion of the

transverse carpal ligament The flexor retinaculum (transverse carpal ligament, or anterior annular ligament) is a fibrous band on the palmar side of the hand near the wrist. It arches over the carpal bones of the hands, covering them and forming the carpal tunnel. Structur ...

; it is inserted into the whole length of the

metacarpal bone In human anatomy, the metacarpal bones or metacarpus form the intermediate part of the skeletal hand located between the phalanges of the fingers and the carpal bones of the wrist, which forms the connection to the forearm. The metacarpal bones ar ...

of the little finger, along its ulnar margin. The opponens digiti minimi muscle serves to flex and laterally rotate the 5th

metacarpal In human anatomy, the metacarpal bones or metacarpus form the intermediate part of the skeletal hand located between the phalanges of the fingers and the carpal bones of the wrist, which forms the connection to the forearm. The metacarpal bones ar ...

about the 5th

carpometacarpal joint The carpometacarpal (CMC) joints are five joints in the wrist that articulate the distal row of carpal bones and the proximal bases of the five metacarpal bones. The CMC joint of the thumb or the first CMC joint, also known as the trapeziometacar ...

, as when bringing the little finger and thumb into opposition. It is innervated by the

deep branch of the ulnar nerve Deep or The Deep may refer to: Places United States * Deep Creek (Appomattox River tributary), Virginia * Deep Creek (Great Salt Lake), Idaho and Utah * Deep Creek (Mahantango Creek tributary), Pennsylvania * Deep Creek (Mojave River tributary) ...

Additional images

Image:Gray426.png, The muscles of the

thumb The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thum ...

. (Opponens quinti digiti visible at center right.) Image:Musculusopponensdigitiminimi.png, Front of the left

forearm The forearm is the region of the upper limb between the elbow and the wrist. The term forearm is used in anatomy to distinguish it from the arm, a word which is most often used to describe the entire appendage of the upper limb, but which in an ...

. Deep muscles. (Opponens digiti quinti visible at bottom left.) Image:Gray219.png, Bones of the left hand. Volar surface. Image:Gray422.png, Transverse section across the wrist and digits. File:Hand dissection 8.jpg, Opponens digiti minimi File:Slide7OOOO.JPG, Opponens digiti minimi File:Slide17OOOO.JPG, Opponens digiti minimi muscle File:Slide1MAI.JPG, Muscles of hand. Cross section.

References

External links

PTCentral
Muscles of the upper limb {{muscle-stub

See also

Additional images

References

External links