Vincula Tendina

Within each osseo-aponeurotic canal the tendons of the Flexor digitorum superficialis (Flexores digitorum sublimis although accurate is no longer a common description) and profundus are connected to each other, and to the phalanges, by slender, tendinous bands, called vincula tendina. There are two sets of these:

  • (a) the vincula brevia, which are two in number in each finger, and consist of triangular bands of fibers, one connecting the tendon of the Flexor digitorum superficialis to the front of the first interphalangeal joint and head of the first phalanx, and the other the tendon of the Flexor digitorum profundus to the front of the second interphalangeal joint and head of the second phalanx;
  • (b) the vincula longa, which connect the under surfaces of the tendons of the Flexor digitorum profundus to those of the subjacent Flexor digitorum superficialis after the tendons of the former have passed through the latter.

This article incorporates text from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy.

Synovial bursa and tendon sheaths (TA A04.8, GA 3, GA 4)
Synovial bursa
Upper limb
  • Subacromial bursa
  • Olecranon bursa
Lower limb
  • Hip: Trochanteric bursa
  • Bursae of the knee joint: Prepatellar bursa
  • Semimembranous bursa
Tendon sheaths
Upper limb
  • Vincula tendina
  • Synovial sheath (Common flexor sheath of hand)
  • Mucous sheaths on back of wrist
Lower limb
  • Mucous sheaths of the tendons around the ankle