{{Short description|Hand deformity}} {{More citations needed|date=February 2024}} [[File:AUD-Spange.jpg|thumb|Hand affected by Ulnar deviation]] '''Ulnar deviation''', also known as '''ulnar drift''', is a hand [[deformity]] in which the swelling of the [[metacarpus|metacarpophalangeal]] joints (the big knuckles at the base of the fingers) causes the fingers to become displaced, tending towards the little finger.<ref>{{Citation |last=Strike |first=Sophia A. |title=Chapter 14 - Closed Reduction Forearm and Wrist (Adult) |date=2017-01-01 |work=Case Competencies in Orthopaedic Surgery |pages=131–137 |editor-last=Frank |editor-first=Rachel M. |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780323390385000147 |access-date=2024-02-02 |publisher=Elsevier |doi=10.1016/b978-0-323-39038-5.00014-7 |isbn=978-0-323-39038-5 |last2=LaPorte |first2=Dawn M. |editor2-last=Forsythe |editor2-first=Brian |editor3-last=Provencher |editor3-first=Matthew T.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Its name comes from the displacement toward the [[ulna]] (as opposed to [[Anatomical terms of motion#Abduction and adduction|radial deviation]], in which fingers are displaced toward the [[radius (bone)|radius]]). Ulnar deviation is likely to be a characteristic of [[rheumatoid arthritis]],<ref>{{Citation |last=Biese |first=JEANINE |title=Chapter 17 - Arthritis |date=2007-01-01 |work=Fundamentals of Hand Therapy |pages=348–375 |editor-last=Cooper |editor-first=Cynthia |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0323033865500205 |access-date=2024-02-02 |place=Saint Louis |publisher=Mosby |doi=10.1016/b0-32-303386-5/50020-5 |isbn=978-0-323-03386-2|url-access=subscription }}</ref> more than of [[osteoarthritis]]. Consideration should also be given to [[pigmented villonodular synovitis]], in the setting of ulnar deviation and metacarpophalangeal synovitis. {{citation needed|date=February 2024}}
Ulnar deviation is also a physiological [[Anatomical terms of motion#Abduction and adduction|movement of the wrist]], where the hand including the fingers move towards the ulna. Ulnar deviation is a disorder in which flexion by ulnar nerve innervated muscles is intact while flexion on the median nerve side is not.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}
== References == {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulnar Deviation}} [[Category:Hand]] [[Category:Rheumatoid arthritis]]
{{Symptom-stub}}