10 Interesting facts about our hands (more reasons to appreciate and protect them)

Most of us don’t think too much about how fascinating our hands are. Often, we take them for granted, until something bad happens.

Our hands are one of our body’s main tools. They are capable of a variety of functions like touching, feeling, holding, caressing, gripping, manipulating and so much more. They are an important part of who we are, how we live our life each day and how we see ourselves.

Here are some interesting facts about our hands that will hopefully get us to appreciate them more and give us more reasons to consider hand safety and protection.

Did you know???

1. Our hand has 27 bones. The carpal or wrist accounts for 8; the metacarpal or palm has 5; the remaining 14 are digital bones; fingers and thumb.

2.  Our hands has 29 major joints, at least 123 ligaments, 34 muscles, 48 nerves and 30 arteries.

3. There are no muscles in our fingers. Our fingers can move because of the muscles located in the palm and in the middle of the forearm. They’re connected to our finger bones by tendons which pull and move our fingers like the strings of a puppet.

4. On average, men tend to have longer ring fingers than index fingers—women vice versa.

5. Only 10 to 15% of the entire population are left-handed. Only one in 100 are ambidextrous, meaning they can use both hands equally.

6. What sets our hands apart from other animals is our opposable thumbs—this means our thumbs and fingers can work together.

7. The average hand length for adult women is 6.7 inches while for men it is 7.4 inches.

8. Our fingers are more sensitive than our eyes. Our fingertips have many receptors responsible for sending messages to the brain.

9. Venna Amoris, the vein on our ring finger has a direct line to our heart. That’s why we wear the engagement ring on the left hand’s finger because it is also known as the Vein of love.

10. Motor Cortex is the part of our brain that controls all movements in our body and about a quarter is devoted to the muscles in our hands. 

Indeed, our hand is one of the most complex and fascinating pieces of natural engineering in the entire human body. There is nothing close to replacing our hands’ usefulness and adaptability. That is why it’s so difficult to imagine how much our life will be affected without it. 

Globally, an estimated of almost 20% of all disabling accidents on the job involve the hands. This simply shows that our hands being our primary tool are also exposed to many risks. It is crucial to protect them, respect them and care for them as we would any other valuable, irreplaceable precision tool. 

Although hand safety does not only mean wearing hand protection, it is important to consider using the correct hand protection that fits the application, or the work we are doing. Remember that the wrong choice of gloves can add to the danger instead of protecting our hands. 

With 60 years of protecting workers in challenging Norwegian climate conditions, Granberg has been producing and selling work gloves in many parts of the world. Our mission has always been to offer the right hand protection through customer proximity, responsiveness, knowledge and technological innovation. 

No matter what the nature of your job is, we will be glad to help you find the best hand protection that fits you. Get in touch with us at: https://www.granberg.no/contact-us/