Syntax

Syntactic actants

Actant 1: whose arm or hand it is
(a) Genitive
(b) Possessive
Она опиралась на руку мужа. She leaned on her husband's arm.
Её руки покраснели от холода. Her hands turned red from the cold.
NB When the word рука functions as a subject and does not have a descriptive modifier, the construction рука у + Genitive is often preferred to (a) and (b), above:
Руки у неё покраснели от холода. Her hands turned red from the cold.

Restrictive modifiers

(a) adjectival modifier
левая/правая рука the left/right arm/hand
Левая/правая рука у меня онемела. My left/right arm went numb.