Wrist Anatomy: Carpal Bone Mnemonic
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Wrist Anatomy
Each wrist is made up of 8 short bones called carpal bones.
The carpal bone names are the following: scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, pisiform, hamate, capitate, trapezoid, and trapezium.
Knowing the anatomy of the wrist and hand is useful, especially when interpreting an x-ray or performing a physical examination.
Similar to the tarsal bone lecture where you learned a mnemonic to remember the tarsal bones of the foot and ankle, today you will learn a simple mnemonic to remember the carpal bones of the wrist.
There are several different carpal bone mnemonics and acronyms available, but we will use the mnemonic “So Long To Pinky, Here Comes The Thumb”.
Not only will this help you remember the names of the carpal bones, but the words in the mnemonic will also help you remember their anatomical position as well - more on this down below!
We will also use a labeled x-ray image of the wrist and hand to learn the bones.
Let’s get started!
Carpal Bone Mnemonic
“So Long To Pinky, Here Comes The Thumb”
As mentioned above, there are several different mnemonics and/or acronyms that can be used to remember the names of the carpal bones.
One of the better mnemonics is “So Long To Pinky, Here Comes The Thumb”.
This mnemonic is good because it not only helps you remember the names of the carpal bones, but also their orientation.
When using one of the other mnemonics, you might forget which bone to start with on imaging and what direction to travel when moving through the carpal bones.
“So Long To Pinky, Here Comes The Thumb” fixes this problem.
The words in the mnemonic will help you remember the orientation of the bones and how to label them.
Here’s how it works.
Label the 8 carpal bones as demonstrated below.
The proximal 4 bones will be labeled 1-4, counting from the thumb to the pinky.
The distal 4 bones will be labeled 5-8, counting from the pinky to the thumb.
The words in the mnemonic will help you remember how to label the x-ray.
The last word in the first part of the mnemonic is “Pinky”. This will help you remember that the pinky is last to be labeled in the first proximal row (thumb to pinky).
Next, the last word of the second part of the mnemonic is “Thumb”. This will help you remember that the thumb is last to be labeled in the second distal row (pinky to thumb).
Let’s now break down the mnemonic: “So Long To Pinky, Here Comes The Thumb”.
This will help you recall the following carpal bone names and anatomical locations: Scaphoid, Lunate, Triquetrum, Pisiform, Hamate, Capitate, Trapezoid, and Trapezium.
As mentioned above, you will start at the thumb and move toward the pinky in the proximal row (scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, and pisiform).
Then you will start at the pinky and move toward the thumb in the distal row (hamate, capitate, trapezoid, trapezium).
See x-ray image below.
Trick to Remember the T’s
Now that we have a good understanding of the names and anatomical locations of the 8 carpal bones, there’s one more simple trick to learn.
You probably noticed 3 of the 8 carpal bones start with the letter “T”: Triquetrum, Trapezoid, and Trapezium.
It can be tough to remember which of the 3 “T” carpal bones to use in the mnemonic whenever there is a word beginning with “T”.
Fortunately, with every EZmed blog post, you are provided with endless tricks and strategies to remember the material.
Here is a simple trick you can use to remember the 3 “T” carpal bones: Triquetrum, Trapezoid, and Trapezium.
Triquetrum: “Tri” = 3rd Bone
If you are using the mnemonic “So Long To Pinky, Here Comes The Thumb”, the first word that begins with “T” is “To” (in the 3rd position).
This is the triquetrum.
You can use the “Tri” in triquetrum to remember it is located in the 3rd position.
Trapezoid: TRAPezoid and CAPitate
The second carpal bone that starts with “T” is trapezoid.
The trapezoid sits next to the capitate.
You can remember this because “TRAP” in trapezoid and “CAP” in capitate rhyme with each other.
Therefore, when you get to the capitate using the mnemonic, you will know the trapezoid is next because they sit adjacent to one other.
As a result, the word “The” in the mnemonic stands for trapezoid as it comes after the word “Comes” for capitate.
Trapezium: Trapezium = Thumb
The third carpal bone that starts with “T” is trapezium.
The key here is to remember that trapezium rhymes with thumb, or “Trapezium is near the thumb”.
If you look at the x-ray image below, the carpal bone that is closest to the thumb is carpal bone #8.
Therefore, you will know the trapezium (next to the thumb) belongs in position 8.
Furthermore, the word “thumb” in the mnemonic represents the trapezium (“trapezium is near the thumb”).
Trick to Remember Triquetrum, Trapezoid, and Trapezium
Triquetrum: “TRI” = 3rd bone
Trapezoid: TRAPezoid = CAPitate (“Trap and Cap” rhyme)
Trapezium: Trapezium = Thumb (“Trapezium is near the thumb” rhyme)
Summary
Hopefully this mnemonic provided you with an easy way to remember the names of the carpal bones, as well as their anatomical location.
If you found this content useful, please leave a comment down below or provide any suggestions!
Simply remember “So Long To Pinky, Here Comes The Thumb”.
You can also remember the 3 carpal bones beginning with “T” using the following trick:
Triquetrum: Tri = 3rd bone
Trapezoid: TRAPezoid and CAPitate sit next to each other (trap and cap rhyme)
Trapezium: Trapezium = Thumb (the “trapezium sits next to the thumb” rhyme)
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