The Wrist Puzzle
Eight little bones that bend every way
Your wrist is a puzzle of EIGHT small bones packed into two neat rows. Together they let your hand bend, wave, grip and twist â without collapsing under your body weight in a handstand!
The eight carpal bones from above
Real anatomy picture coming soon
Real anatomy photo spot: two rows of carpals â scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, pisiform, trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate
Two tidy rows
The eight carpal bones sit in two rows. The row nearer your forearm: scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum and pisiform. The row nearer your hand: trapezium, trapezoid, capitate and hamate. Their odd names come from their shapes â the pisiform is pea-sized, the trapezium is shaped like a little table.
A moveable puzzle
Because the wrist is many small bones instead of one big one, it can glide into almost any angle â bending back for a handstand, cupping for a cartwheel, flicking for a wave. Many small moving pieces = huge range of motion. Just like the 26 bones in your foot!
Mr. Bones says: I'm a fictional skeleton, not a doctor! This is for learning and fun. If anything hurts, stop and tell a grown-up you trust.
