To evaluate force transmission patterns in vivo of patients with complaints of wrist instability requiring a proximal row carpectomy, bone mineral density (BMD) patterns of the wrist were established using computed tomography absorptiometry. Normal wrists show a BMD pattern in which the scaphoid fossa and lunate fossa of the distal radius contain a center of force transmission. Wrists with pathology of the proximal carpal row or distal radius show a shift of BMD towards the dorsal edge and the styloid process of the scaphoid fossa. After a proximal row carpectomy, the BMD of the scaphoid fossa decreases, and a BMD center is formed in the center of the lunate fossa, demonstrating that the force transmission is concentrated in its center.