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The Thumb: the real hero of civilization

Right from the start, the thumb made itself felt, so to speak. It is fairly independent from the rest of our fingers, and possibly the least attractive. It is shorter but extremely flexible. Thumbs only have two bones, and owe their flexibility to their saddle-like joint to the rest of the hand and a little muscle known as the abductor pollicis brevis – which is a fancy way of saying you can pick things up.

The thumb may have helped us to develop language – after all, if you are busy doing something with your hands, then you are free to say something. And while we were working at all those weapons and useful cutting materials, we may have begun that very human habit of gossip. Chatting…

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 The Digital Elite

The thumb: stout, fleshy, comprised of a pair of phalanges. Along with tears, one of the things that distinguishes us as human. Useful for hitchhiking, expressing satisfaction (or lack thereof) in a movie, condemning a downed gladiator to death, and swiping and tap-tapping on smartphone screens... Therein, a problem. For while the thumb, viewed in aggregate, is not growing, the mobile phone most certainly is

Articles of Interest

The Thumb is the Hero

The hand's hero is of course the thumb - to Sir Isaac Newton sufficient evidence of God's existence.

Bones and joints of the thumb

The first carpo-metacarpal joint is the joint which gives the thumb its special position, and a great deal of its special mobility.

CMC Joint of the Thumb

Axes and movements...

Hitchhiker's thumb: The myth

Hitchhiker's thumb is often used to demonstrate genetics, but neither part of the myth is true: thumbs don't fall into two discrete categories, and the trait is not controlled by a single gene.

Joints of the Thumb – Language of Hand and Arm Surgery Series

My thumb hurts in the joint! Many patients want to use the right technical terms when talking with their physician, and this can certainly improve the efficiency of your office visit. In this article, I’ll quickly show you how to identify the joints in your thumb.

Robotic Thumb Changes How the Brain Sees the Hand

Participants using an extra thumb to go about their daily tasks readily adapted to the robotic appendage over five days, but the relationship between their brain and their biological hand changed over this period.

The Amazing Opposable Thumb in Humans

The thumb can be rotated so that it comes to face the palm and can touch all the other fingers. This property, called the opposability of the thumb, is a unique feature seen not only in human beings but all primates. Prehensility is the property that makes an organ or appendage suitable for grasping. Organs like hands, claws, tails, and even tongues and noses are prehensile in various species. In primates, the presence of an opposable thumb makes the hand prehensile.

Thumb and Finger

The thumb is said to account for about half of hand function. The thumb is formed by three bones and three joints and is an important part of the hand, which is said to account for about half of the function of the hand. The thumb can move more than the other fingers by moving the three joints more extensively.

Thumb sucking

Sucking on fingers or thumbs is healthy and normal when children are very young, but can cause problems if it continues. Most children stop somewhere between two and four years of age.

Thumbs gave human ancestors a ‘formidable’ advantage

Whether we’re texting or using tools, our hands – perhaps more than any other body part – are what equip us for modern life. The killer app in the evolution of our hands was our opposable thumbs, which allow humans to precisely hold tiny things between our fingertips and pad of our thumb.

What is a Thumb?

The thumb is known to be the outermost finger of the 5 fingers of the hand. It is capable of unique and amazing motions that make it completely different from the other fingers of a human hand.

When is a thumb a thumb?

Studying the anatomy of panda hands and human hands shows that these “thumbs” must be analogous. When you look at the bones of each, you see that the thumbs are not very similar at all! The human thumb has joints and is made of many bones. The panda thumb is just one bone sticking out of the side of the hand.

Where Does the 'Thumbs-Up' Gesture Really Come From?

It’s a widely recognized gesture: fingers curled into the palm, thumb stretched out, pointing skyward. But what’s the history of the gesture and how did it come to mean “yes” or “O.K.”?

Why has your thumb got a special name, but your big toe is just called a Big Toe?

Actually, they both have. The correct anatomical name for the thumb is the "pollux" and the big toe the "hallux".

You, Too, Can Be All Thumbs. Or At Least Three

Take a look at your hand and fingers—and imagine that instead of five digits, you had an additional thumb, approximately opposite your natural thumb. Researchers at University College London built what they call the “Third Thumb”—a flexible, 3D-printed prosthetic device, controlled by pressure on sensors under the wearer’s big toes.

Resources

11 Facts About the Thumb

When it comes to the fingers on your hand, the thumb definitely does its own thing.

5 Causes of Thumb Pain

The thumb is involved in about 50% of all hand functions. When the thumb is painful or injured, it becomes very difficult to use the hand. During normal life, we take our thumbs for granted. When the thumb is not working properly, tasks are more difficult, and we then realize how important the thumb is. There are several causes of thumb pain including: Trigger thumb, Arthritis, Tendonitis, Carpal tunnel syndrome, Skier’s thumb.