A study on morphology of palmaris longus

Abstract

Palmaris longus muscle is one of the highly variable muscles of flexor compartment of forearm. In man, due to loss of prehension, the muscle became an almost vestigial structure, more tendinous than muscular and started becoming unilaterally or bilaterally agenetic. This muscle has got an evolutionary interest along with a high degree of importance in tendon graft surgeries. In this study the morphology of palmaris longus muscle was studied using routine dissection procedure in a total of 50 upper limbs, out of which 45 (90%) upper limbs showed normal anatomy. Two upper limbs (4%) showed reverse palmaris longus, one upper limb (2%) showed proximal and distal tendinous portion with a long middle belly, (here the muscle belly was much longer when compared to the combined length of the proximal and distal tendons). These variations in their morphology were noted and their clinical significance was discussed.