Radius

Function

The forearm's rotating pillar: its disc-shaped head spins within the annular ligament while its broad distal end carries the wrist. Pronation and supination whirl around its axis.

Landmarks

• Head
• Neck
• Radial tuberosity
• Interosseous border
• Styloid process
• Lister's (dorsal) tubercle
• Ulnar notch

Articulations (joints)

• Humerus (elbow)
• Ulna (proximal and distal radioulnar joints)
• Scaphoid and lunate (wrist)

Clinical relevance

Colles' fracture — a dorsally tilted distal radius in a fall onto the outstretched hand — is the classic adult wrist fracture; the radial pulse is palpated at its styloid base.