Ulnar club hand

A diagnosis of ulnar club hand means that your child’s wrist is in a fixed and bent position toward the side of the hand with the little finger.

• It’s caused by an ulna (the bone that connects the elbow to the forearm) that wasn’t formed correctly in the womb.
• Your child’s thumb may also be deformed or absent.

What is radial and what is ulnar?

When describing a particular side of the arm, you may hear your child's doctor refer to the "radial side," which indicates the side of the arm on which the thumb lies, or the "ulnar side," which describes the side on which the little finger lies.

These terms are used rather than "inner" or "outer" arm because the palm of the hand can face either forward or backward.