Pollical oblique ligament in humans and non-human primates

Abstract

A morphological study of the oblique ligament in the thumb is presented. The ligament was consistently described in human specimens and compared with dissections of non-human primates from different species. The oblique ligament was found in some, but not all, specimens in each of the following species examined: chimpanzee, orangutan, gibbon, anubis baboon, hamadryas baboon, squirrel monkey, lemur and marmoset. A revised identity of the oblique ligament is proposed as a reinforced distal border of a fibro-osseous annular pollical flexor sheath and whose function is not independent of the flexor sheath. The constant presence and tendinous trait of the pollical oblique ligament in humans, when compared with non-human primates, supports the notion that the oblique ligament strengthens the pollical flexor sheath in humans for restraint of the flexor pollicis longus tendon during forceful precision pinching. A derivation of the pollical oblique ligament is considered as representing a vestigial radial limb of a flexor pollicis superficialis tendon in the thumb.