Abductor pollicis brevis is a muscle that is present in your hand and understanding it along with all the muscles of the human body is very important. Human body is made up of muscles and bones and they all play a great role in the whole being of a human. The muscles play their part by allowing the movement of the body to happen. Having strong and stable muscles is very important and learning about these muscles will let you recognize any type of problem that you have in them and what you need to do about it.
There are a lot of the medical disorders related to muscles that happen in every other person. Being unaware of the severity of the situation we choose to ignore it and that is why when the situation gets worse you start your treatment, and muscles usually takes time to heal.
Being an athletic person you definitely need to have the knowledge of such muscles so you can know which points of your muscles you need to strengthen. This way you can have perfect body balance for the type of the sport you play. This will also help you avoid the injuries that different sportsperson have to face.
Abductor pollicis brevis is another one of the important muscles in the body and if your sports include throwing a ball or any other such hand movement. You should definitely learn more about this muscle because that is where this muscle is present.
Abductor Pollicis Brevis
This muscle is present in the palm and it is present between the wrist and the base of your thumb. Basically, this muscle belongs to the intrinsic muscles. Muscles present in your hand are divided into two parts intrinsic and extrinsic.
Extrinsic muscles are long and their belly is present in the forearm so that means that they extend in your hand and your forearm as well. While on the other hand, the intrinsic muscles are the small muscles that are present in tea hand only. These intrinsic muscles are further divided into groups like the Thenar and Hypothenar muscles.
The abductor pollicis brevis is present on the Thenar group along with the opponents pollicis, Flexor pollicis previs. “Thana” basically is a Greek word and it translates to the “Palm of the Hand”. But Thenar muscles are those present at the base of the thumb and one of the Thenar muscles being the abductor pollicis brevis.
These Thenar muscles control the movement of the thumb. The abductor pollicis brevis is the largest muscle in that group. This means this muscle plays the greater part on the movement of the thumb.
Location of Abductor Pollicis Brevis
The abductor pollicis brevis as we already know is present between the wrist and the base of the thumb in the Thenar group but to be more specific you should know that abductor pollicis brevis has its origin at the Flexor Retinaculum and also the Tuberculous of the trapezium and the scaphoid bones. Then this muscles insertion is at the base of the thumb’s proximal phalanx.
This muscle is present along with the flexor pollicis brevis and the opponents pollicis and is present just beneath your skin. It is arranged in such a way that it completely overlaps the opponents pollicis and just slightly overlap the muscle flexor pollicis brevis.
The shape of this muscle is somewhat triangular. It is very flat and thin and also elongated given that it is the largest muscle in the Thenar group. The median nerve also innervates these muscles and the two lateral lumbrical muscles. The blood supply to this muscle is provided by the Radial Artery’s branch known as the superficial palmar arch.
Function
Abductor pollicis brevis is the abductor of the thumb and definition of it is that it allows the interior movement of the thumb. That means it can move perpendicular to the palm and it plays the other functions of the thumb movement. More specifically it helps in the extension and the opposition of the thumb. The opposition movement means that the thumb can rotate as well as touch other fingers.
Tenosynovitis of Thumb
Impairment in any muscle or anything related to that muscle can affect the actual function of that muscle and similar is in this case. The Tenosynovitis of the thumb is the condition when you are gripping anything with your thumb it starts the pain. In fact, any movement of the thumb can cause the pain. This occurs because of the repetitive abduction. Then it causes the irritation on the tendons of the flexor pollicis brevis and the abductor pollicis brevis.
In this problem, the thumb usually appears normal but there can be some inflammation in the tendons in some cases. And there is also some tenderness. There may also be some pain when the hand is stretched towards the ulna with the thumb wrapped in the fingers of the same hand.
Abductor Pollicis Brevis Strength test
This test is performed when there is some suspected injury or deterioration in those muscles. The pain in the muscle is usually caused by some injury when you are playing a sport. Moreover it may also happen due to the repetitive action of the muscle. That is why you need to have this test done so that instant treatment for that muscle can be started. Abductor pollicis brevis strength test is performed in the following way
- Your hand is first position upside down so that your palm is facing the ground.
- Your thumb is placed in the palm perpendicular to its position.
- Now your fingers are wrapped over your thumb
- You hand is stretched towards the ulna.
If you experience any pain then for sure damage is in your abductor pollicis brevis. A doctor does this examination test and they will suggest a treatment for this as well. There are also some of the cases where the surgery needs to be performed or sometimes the muscle heals on its own.
