Changes in patterns of scaphoid and lunate motion during functional arcs of wrist motion induced by ligament division.

PURPOSE: To determine the in vitro motion of the scaphoid and lunate during wrist circumduction and wrist dart-throw motions and to see how these motions change after the ligamentous stabilizers of the scaphoid and lunate are sectioned in a manner simulating scapholunate instability.
METHODS: Twenty-one fresh-frozen cadaver forearms were moved through a dart-throw motion and a circumduction motion using a wrist joint simulator. Scaphoid and lunate motion were measured with the wrist ligaments intact and after sectioning of the scapholunate interosseous ligament, the scaphotrapezium ligament, and the radioscaphocapitate ligament.
RESULTS: In the intact wrist the scaphoid and lunate moved more during circumduction than during the dart-throw motion. With ligamentous sectioning the scaphoid flexed more and the lunate extended more during both the circumduction and dart-throw motions. During the circumduction motion both before and after sectioning the global motion of the scaphoid was greater than that of the lunate. After sectioning the scaphoid motion increased and the lunate motion decreased.
CONCLUSIONS: The scaphoid and lunate motions were observed to change remarkably after ligamentous sectioning. The observed changes in carpal motion correlate with the clinical observation that after ligamentous injury arthritic changes occur in the radioscaphoid joint and not in the radiolunate joint. Analysis of the injured wrist in positions that combine flexion-extension and radial-ulnar deviation may allow noninvasive diagnosis of specific wrist ligament injuries.