Overview

What are metacarpals?

Metacarpals are the five bones in the palm of your hand that connect your wrist to your fingers and thumb.

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Metacarpal bones are the bridge between your wrist and fingers. That’s where they get their name. Carpus is the medical name for your wrist. “Meta-” means above or beyond. So, the metacarpals are bones just past your wrist.

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Function

What do metacarpal bones do?

Your metacarpals are structural support for your hand. They give your palm its arched shape. They also help your hand stay strong in any position as you flex and move it.

Metacarpal bones can all move. The two linked to your middle and index fingers don’t move much. The ones connected to your thumb, ring finger and pinkie finger move more. That’s because those parts of your hand move and change shape more than the center.

Your metacarpals are also anchors for tendons and ligaments in your hand. Muscles in your hand connect to your metacarpals, too. These all help you move your hand, fingers and thumb.

Anatomy

Where are metacarpals located?

The metacarpal bones are in your palm. You can feel them by pressing on the back of your hand. There’s one right behind each of your knuckles. Your metacarpals are numbered one through five:

First metacarpal, connected to your thumb
Second metacarpal, connected to your index finger
Third metacarpal, connected to your middle finger
Fourth metacarpal, connected to your ring finger
Fifth metacarpal, connected to your pinkie finger

What are the parts of your metacarpals?

Each metacarpal has four parts:

The head that connects to your finger bones to form your knuckles
The neck that connects the head to the shaft
A shaft that makes up most of its length
The base that connects to bones in your wrist

Healthcare providers sometimes refer to the head of a metacarpal as the distal end. They call the base the proximal end.

Conditions and Disorders

What are the common conditions that affect metacarpals?

Broken metacarpals are very common. They account for 4 out of every 10 hand injuries.

A boxer’s fracture is the name for breaking the fifth metacarpal neck. It’s the metacarpal that breaks most often because it’s the smallest and because of its position.

Visit a healthcare provider if you have pain, swelling or other symptoms in your hand that last for more than a few days. Especially if it’s hard to move or use your hands.

A note from Cleveland Clinic

You use your metacarpals almost any time you use your hands. They’re small bones that play a big part in most of your daily activities. But metacarpal injuries can happen.

Everyone’s pinched their hand in a drawer or felt sore after a long day typing at work. The occasional aches and pains are no big deal. But don’t ignore any pain that lasts for more than a few days. Metacarpals are some of the most commonly broken bones. And it can be easy to overlook the early signs.

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