As FB said, use SDK's. These are fantastic additions that make a lot of animation a lot easier. I had one for a hnad control a whil back with an Custom Attribute created for each finger and one for the fist. I even think Kurt has gone over this in one of the tutes he did on hand controls.
Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
Twitter
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will truely know peace - Jimmy Hendrix
Winner SM VFX Challenge 1
3rd Place SM SteamPunk Challenge (May 2007)