Bones in the body serve several different functions. Many of them are responsible for making blood cells. But by far the most common function is simply to provide support for the organs and other parts of the body. Without a skeletal system, you wouldn’t be able to move about. Muscles that attach to the bones of the body provide the means by which we move. The forearm has two important bones, the radius and the ulna. This article will look at the muscles attached to the human radius.
The radius is located on the lateral side of the human arm if the arm is held in the proper anatomical position. The lateral side is the side away from the center of the body. The proper anatomical position is a person holding their arms down to the side, with the palms of the hands facing forward.
There are many muscles attached to the radius. These muscles aid in the movement of the arm and hand. Ironically, the muscles that move the radius itself are not located on the radius. In order for a muscle to move a bone, that muscle must cross a joint. Most of the muscles that attach to the radius are responsible for moving the bones in the hand.
By far the largest muscle that is attached to the radius is the biceps. This is the big muscle on the upper arm that many men like to flex in the mirror. When a work-out fanatic invites to you to “The Gun Show”, he’s offering to flex his biceps. Yes, it’s stupid – but that doesn’t seem to stop some men. The biceps attaches to the radius at the proximal end, near the elbow joint, on a part of the radius called the radial tuberocity.
There are several other major muscles that attach to the radius on the upper third of the bone. One is the supinator muscle – which helps you twist your forearm when you use a screwdriver. Another is the flexor digitorum superficialis. This muscle helps flex the fingers (not the thumb) when you try to make a fist. The flexor pollicis longus also attaches to the radius. This muscle helps flex the thumb.
All of these muscles are actually located in the forearm, even though they help move the fingers. They are your forearm muscles, and you can see and feel them quite easily when you make a fist.
The middle part of the radius has some muscles attached to it as well. The first is the pronator teres muscle. This helps twist the forearm. The extensor ossis metacarpi pollicis and extensor primi internodii pollicis are also attached near the center of the radius. These smaller muscles help move the thumb away from making a fist.
Lastly, the the pronator quadratus is a smaller muscle that attaches to the distal (wrist) end of the radius.
So there you are – the muscles that attach to the human radius. Without these muscles, you wouldn’t have control over the movement of your hands. Needless to say, they are rather important – in fact, without them, I’d have a hard time typing this sentence.
