Human Hands

I'd like you to think for a moment about your hands and all the things you can do with them. You can use them to write or to drive. You can thread a needle, play the drums, build a wall, and so on and so forth. They can be careful and precise. Think of someone doing eye surgery, for example. But they can also generate huge forces. And here you might think of the sports person throwing a discus or lifting a heavy weight. How is it possible for our hands to be so incredibly flexible Well, it's all down to the extraordinary complexity of the bones, ligaments, nerves, and muscles that lie beneath the skin of our hands. There are, for example, nine muscles alone controlling just one thumb. Some of these are anchored to bones within the hand, while others link to the arm.