by AceMedEd

Teach card · keep it in your scrub pocket

Ankle arthroscopy

Ask during the case

  1. Marking the skin, before the joint is inflated: "Show me tibialis anterior, peroneus tertius and the superficial peroneal nerve. How did you make the nerve visible?"
  2. Making the anterolateral portal: "What brackets this portal, what are we cutting, and what are we only spreading?"
  3. On the tour, at the lateral gutter: "Name the ligament across the top of the gutter, then tell me where on the dome osteochondral lesions classically sit, medial versus lateral."

Point at: the superficial peroneal nerve under the skin before the first portal, then the AITFL and lateral gutter on the monitor.

End of day: "Draw me the front of the ankle with both portals, the tendons between them and the nerve." Two minutes, no notes.

Where this kit and your technique differ, yours wins.

Send this to your students

The night before. They prep alone, redraw at turnover, and get a cold check tomorrow morning. They won't see these questions.

Open the student page

Reviewed by Mehdi “AC” Talle, D.O., November 2026. Sources: Netter, Gray's Anatomy and Hoppenfeld's surgical exposures. Teaching schematic, not to scale; anatomy and technique vary. Management and indications are left to you on purpose.