Windblown hand is a hand deformity that is present from birth. The cause of this deformity is unknown. People with windblown hand have flexion contractures of the joints at the base of each finger that prevents normal mobility of their hand and causes their fingers to bend toward their "little" finger (i.e., ulnar drift). In addition, windblown hand is characterized by a "thumb-in-palm deformity" or "clasped thumb" where the thumb is webbed to the palm by a soft tissue bridge.

Click here to view the anatomy of the hand provided by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand.

The cause of windblown hand is unknown. It is thought that windblown hand may represent a variation of some type of arthrogryposis. Arthrogryposis is a very large and varied group of disorders that have the common feature of multiple congenital joint contractures.

There have been reports of both sporadic and genetic cases of windblown hand. In genetic cases, the condition is commonly described as having an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance.