9. Pope's Blessing / Hand of Benediction
Nerve: Median
Lesion Location: Proximal (near the elbow) [1]
Deficiency: When the patient tries to make a fist,
they are unable to flex the index and middle fingers
due to loss of lateral lumbrical action, leading to
the hand of benediction. The fingers are extended
due to unopposed radial nerve action on the finger
extensors.
10. This lesion is also related to ape hand due to the fact
that loss of opponens pollicis means one has an
unopposable thumb (like an ape). It seems some also
believe the term ape hand refers to the thenar
atrophy.
11. Examination of
flexor pollicis longus
flexor digitorum profundus
flexor carpi radialis
abductor pollicis brevis
pronator teres
Sensation over the distribution of the nerve.