Generality
A phalanx is one of the 14 bones, which, in each hand and in each foot, make up the skeleton of the fingers and constitute the most distal anatomical portions of each upper and lower limb.
Both in the hands and in the feet, the first toe - which, in the hand, is the thumb and, in the foot, the big toe - is made up of 2 phalanges, while all the remaining fingers of 3.
The phalanges closest to the metacarpals / metatarsals are called first phalanges (or proximal phalanges); the phalanges following the first phalanges are called second phalanges (or intermediate phalanges); finally, the phalanges that come after the second phalanges are known as third phalanges (or distal phalanges). Clearly, in the thumb and in the big toe, this numbering ends with the second phalanges (which, on the occasion, assume the wording of distal phalanges).
In a generic phalanx three main portions can be distinguished, which are: the body, the proximal end and the distal end.
Articulated to each other and to the metacarpals / metatarsals, the phalanges attach to the terminal heads of some important muscles of the hand and foot.
Like any bone in the human skeleton, the phalanges can also fracture.
What is a phalanx?
A phalanx is one of the 14 bones, which, in each hand and each foot, make up the skeleton of the fingers and represent the most distal portions of each upper and lower limb.
In each hand, the 14 phalanges are added to the 5 metacarpals (or metacarpal bones) and to the 8 carpal bones (or carpal bones); in each foot, on the other hand, they are added to the 5 metatarsals (or metatarsal bones) and to the 7 bones of the tarsus (or tarsal bones).
Overall, the human body includes 56 phalanges (28 divided equally between the two hands and another 28 equally divided between the two feet).
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