Wrist Drop

Wrist Drop

Wrist drop describes a hand hanging in flexion due to weakness of wrist extension. This results from radial nerve palsy, either in the axilla or spiral groove of the humerus ("Saturday night palsy"). Distal lesions affecting branches of the posterior interosseous branch of the radial nerve may produce more circumscribed deformity, such as weak extension of metacarpophalangeal joints ("finger drop", "thumb drop").