There’s no doubting that your hands are one of the most vital parts of your body, and seriously how would you manage without them, but what are the most important things to know about your hands? I’ve looked into the construction, how they work and explored some non-body avenues in my quest to find you the most interesting things to know about your hands. Please read on and enjoy.

## 1. They Make Us Different

The human hand is almost unique in the animal kingdom, only apes’ hands have a similar structure. And, one of the things to know about your hands is the thing that sets us (and the apes) apart from other animals with paws/hands: our opposable thumbs. This means that our thumbs and fingers can work together, enabling us to do a huge number of far more complicated and sophisticated things with our hands than other species. (P.S. Koala bears also have opposable thumbs.)

## 2. It’s All in the Structure

The hand is a complicated prehensile structure of bones, tendons and nerves. It’s basically built in 3 sections: the palm (the opposite side is called the opisthenar); the heel; and the fingers and thumb. One of the facts about hands that generally everyone knows is the names of the fingers, which are: the index finger (aka the forefinger); the middle finger; the ring finger; and the little finger.

## 3. Dem Bones, Dem Bones

There are 27 bones in the human hand. There are also numerous tiny sesamoid bones – which differ in number person to person – that appear in the hand’s tendons. Of the 27 bones, 8 are the carpals (the wrist bones), 5 metacarpals which connect the fingers to the wrist and the 14 phalanges of the thumb and fingers. To make them all knit together, there are 29 joints and at least 123 named ligaments.

## 4. A Matter of Muscles

Like the rest of the human body’s moving parts, the functions of the hand are defined by muscular movements. The hand has 2 main sets of muscles (including the tendons that support them). These are the flexor muscles and the extensor muscles. The flexor muscles are connected to the underside of the forearm and bend the fingers and thumbs. The extensor muscles are fastened to the top of the forearm and straighten out the fingers and thumbs. Interestingly, the muscles do not extend into the fingers; it is the action of the muscles on the tendons in the fingers that make the movements. There are 34 muscles which move the thumb and fingers: 18 in the forearm and 17 in the palm. When you think about the facts of the hands, the biomechanics are quite incredible. The muscles are incredibly strong – think about how people can climb vertical surfaces supporting their weight by their fingertips.

## 5. Palm Reading

The palm and the skin on the underside of the fingers is a unique area of the human body. For a start, it is glabrous – i.e. has no hair. Then of course, there are also the fingerprints – a totally unique DNA imprint that is different in every single human being. Additionally, as well as being tough, durable but incredibly sensitive at the same time, you cannot get a tan on your palm and underside fingers.

## 6. Not so Handy