FINGEROLOGY

About the Book

What are the names of the fingers? The fingers should be named: thumb, index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger. But this answer is not always correct, complete, or adequate; at times, there is confusion and aberrations… Retrospectively, in 1969, in the second issue of the new British Journal of Hand Surgery, Dr. H. Graham Stack wrote a classic article, “Naming the Fingers,” elaborating on these confusions, ambiguities, and misconceptions.

With the permission of Sage Publications, we have reproduced the article- and it is just as relevant today as it was four decades ago. The lessons that were illustrated and preached have still been relatively ignored. Indeed, it may be more relevant as the problem of “Naming the Fingers” has not been resolved or eliminated- and there have been over 200 reports of wrong site surgery on the hand in 2007 in the US. – including 123 on the fingers.

Fingerology has evolved into a reference book, a compendium of and about the fingers.

About the Author

Hillary J. Kener is a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University. She is an active leader on campus and in her community. She has been published in scientific and various other publications.

Michael Zeide, MD is an orthopedic surgeon in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is a past-president of the Florida Orthopedic Society and was a Clinical Associate Professor of Orthopedics for 20 years at the University of Miami. He is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Orthopedics.