Radiographic Assessment of the Relative Lengths of the Bones of the Fingers of the Human Hand

Abstract

The study assessed whether a relationship existed between the lengths of the phalanges of the fingers of the hand. The centres of rotation of the joints in each finger were determined by dissection of cadaveric hands. Using these data, the distances between the joint centres was determined on anteroposterior hand X-rays taken for clinical purposes. The study has shown that, for all the fingers, there is a ratio of1 for the distance between the metacarpophalangeal and proximal interphalangeal joint and the distance between the proximal interphalangeal joint and the finger tip. The ratio for the distances between the interphalangeal joints and the distal joint and the tip approximates to 1.3 for the index, middle and ring fingers and to 1.0 for the little finger. No evidence was found to support Littler’s hypothesis that the interarticular distances of the finger follow the Fibonacci sequence.