[What is the value of biomechanical knowledge for surgery of the hand?].

Cartilage and bone as supportive tissues are submitted to mechanical stresses and react to these in a very specific manner. Functional adaptation to the quality and magnitude of the acting forces is the result. In this article, the basic principles of functional adaptation of cartilage and bone will be presented. On the basis of these principles, promising functional concepts and clinical treatments may be established; this will be shown by some examples concerning the hand.