Hamate

Looks like

A wedge-shaped wrist bone on the little-finger side of the far row, with a hook projecting into the palm.

What it does

Supports the fourth and fifth metacarpals; its hook anchors ligaments and borders the ulnar nerve tunnel.

Keeping it well

The hook breaks in golfers, batters and racket players from the handle striking the palm; pain in the palm heel needs a CT.

Related conditions

• Acromegaly
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• De Quervain's tenosynovitis
• Dupuytren's contracture & trigger finger
• Fractures
• Fragility fracture
• Frailty & falls in older age
• Ganglion cyst
• Hyperparathyroidism
• Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
• Osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease)
• Osteomalacia & rickets
• Osteomyelitis (bone infection)
• Osteoporosis
• Paget's disease of bone
• Pseudogout (calcium pyrophosphate disease)
• Raynaud's phenomenon
• Repetitive strain & overuse injury
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Sarcoma
• Vitamin B1, C and other deficiencies
• Vitamin D deficiency