BoneShort bone
Capitate
Latin: Os capitatum sinistrum
Location: Hand — carpus
Paired structure: one on the left and one on the right side of the body.
View the capitate in 3DFunction
The largest carpal bone — wrist keystone. The wrist's central pillar: the head pivots in the lunate's cup while its base fixes the third metacarpal — the axis about which the hand arcs.
Landmarks
- Head
- Neck
- Body
- Long axis of the central column
Articulations (joints)
- Scaphoid
- Lunate
- Trapezoid
- Hamate
- Second and third metacarpals
Clinical relevance
Capitate neck fractures (scaphocapitate syndrome) follow violent dorsiflexion and share the proximal pole's avascular risks.
Educational anatomy reference, not medical advice. About this content.