obstetrician's hand


hand

 [hand] the terminal part of the upper limb of a human or a nonhuman primate.ape hand one with the thumb permanently extended.cleft hand a malformation in which the division between the fingers extends into the metacarpus; also, a hand with the middle digits absent.claw hand see clawhand.drop hand wristdrop.lobster-claw hand cleft hand.obstetrician's hand the contraction of the hand in tetany; the hand is flexed at the wrist, the fingers are flexed at the metacarpophalangeal joints but extended at the interphalangeal joints, and the thumb is strongly flexed into the palm.writing hand in Parkinson's disease, assumption of the position by which a pen is commonly held.

obstetrician's hand

The position of the hand in tetany with extension at the metacarpophalangeal and the interphalangeal joints, and adduction of the thumb. It is named for the position of the obstetrician's hand during vaginal examination. See also: hand