Four-finger furrow
The four-finger furrow is a flexion fold on the palmar (i.e. on the palm of the hand) that runs perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the fingers and extends from the little finger to the forefinger. It runs parallel to the metatarsophalangeal joints. Grooves on the palms of the hands ( palm lines ) occur in all people. Usually these furrows are rounded, so they do not run straight, but in individually curved arcs.
The terms monkey furrow and barrier line were previously used as synonyms for four-finger furrow. The term four-finger furrow has meanwhile established itself because it is neutral. The term monkey furrow stems from the fact that primates of higher order and many animals with grasping hands have such a furrow. The term barrier line was chosen to clarify the division of the palm of the hand by the furrow.
Frequency of occurrence
On average, 75% of all people with a form of trisomy (tripling of a chromosome or chromosome segments) as the cause of e.g. B. Down syndrome (trisomy 21), Patau syndrome (trisomy 13), Edwards syndrome (trisomy 18), trisomy 16 or trisomy 8 has a four-finger furrow in one or both palms of the hands.
Also in people with Zellweger syndrome , Aarskog syndrome , C-trigonocephaly syndrome , Noonan syndrome , Smith-Magenis syndrome , Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome , Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome , the De Grouchy syndrome , Schinzel Giedion syndrome and Cri-du-chat syndrome (cat cry syndrome / chromosome 5p syndrome) or Rüdiger syndrome , this form of palm drawing occurs more often than in people without chromosomal peculiarities .
In contrast, four-finger furrows only occur in one to two in 100 people in the normal population. This form of hand line drawing is predominantly found in boys and men.
Four-finger furrows have no medical or physical relevance in humans. They do not restrict the mobility of the hand in any way and do not affect its function. The characteristic of a four-finger furrow is no indication of a chromosomal peculiarity or a cognitive impairment without further symptoms .
Four-finger furrow on Paul Celan
The poet Paul Celan addresses the four-finger furrow in a short poem from the volume Atemwende :
- Paths in the shadows
- Your hand
- From the four-finger furrow
- I dig for the petrified blessing.
The four-finger furrow probably refers to the bottom of the fingers that are touched (digged) while praying.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Paul Celan, Breath Turn. Preliminary stages - text genesis - final version. Edited by Heimo Schmull and Christiane Wittkop, Tübingen edition, Frankfurt 2000, 21