In anatomy

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

, flexor carpi radialis is a muscle

Muscle

Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...

 of the human forearm

Forearm

-See also:*Forearm flexors*Forearm muscles...

 that acts to flex and (radial) abduct

Abduction (kinesiology)

Abduction, in functional anatomy, is a movement which draws a limb away from the median plane of the body. It is thus opposed to adduction.-Upper limb:* of arm at shoulder ** Supraspinatus** Deltoid* of hand at wrist...

 the hand

Hand

A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered extremity located at the end of an arm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs...

.

Origin and insertion

This muscle originates on the medial epicondyle of the humerus

Humerus

The humerus is a long bone in the arm or forelimb that runs from the shoulder to the elbow....

. It runs just laterally of flexor digitorum superficialis and inserts on the anterior aspect of the base of the second metacarpal, and has small slips to both the third

Third metacarpal bone

The third metacarpal bone is a little smaller than the second.The dorsal aspect of its base presents on its radial side a pyramidal eminence, the styloid process, which extends upward behind the capitate; immediately distal to this is a rough surface for the attachment of the extensor carpi...

 metacarpal and trapezial tuberosity.

On the anterior aspect of a person's forearm, proximal to the wrist, flexor carpi radialis is the most lateral (closest to the thumb) tendon visible when the wrist is brought into flexion.

Nerve and artery

As are most of the flexors of the hand, FCR is innervated by the median nerve

Median nerve

The median nerve is a nerve in humans and other animals. It is in the upper limb. It is one of the five main nerves originating from the brachial plexus....

. It gets its blood from the ulnar artery

Ulnar artery

The ulnar artery is the main blood vessel, with oxygenated blood, of the medial aspect of the forearm. It arises from the brachial artery and terminates in the superficial palmar arch, which joins with the superficial branch of the radial artery...

.

Exercises

The muscle, like all flexors of the forearm, can be strengthened

Strength training

Strength training is the use of resistance to muscular contraction to build the strength, anaerobic endurance, and size of skeletal muscles. There are many different methods of strength training, the most common being the use of gravity or elastic/hydraulic forces to oppose muscle contraction...

 by exercises that resist its flexion. A wrist roller

Wrist roller

The wrist roller is a device designed for strengthening the wrists together in a rolling-pulling motion. It consists of a bar of varying lengths, with a cord or rope attached, which the user rolls and unrolls. This is resisted by the weight of a mass at the bottom of the cord. Rolled and unrolled,...

 can be used and wrist curls with dumbbell

Dumbbell

The dumbbell, a type of free weight, is a piece of equipment used in weight training. It can be used individually or in pairs .-History:...

s can also be performed.