by AceMedEd

Teach card · keep it in your scrub pocket

Upper arm anatomy

Ask during the case

  1. On the film (humeral shaft fracture): "Show me how you examine the radial nerve, and where is the nerve relative to this fracture line?"
  2. During an anterolateral exposure: "We're splitting brachialis. Why here, and which nerve supplies the fibers on each side of the split?"
  3. During a posterior exposure: "Where will the radial nerve cross our field, what travels with it, and how do we find it?"

Point at: the radial nerve and the profunda brachii on the back of the humerus, while they name the triceps heads on either side.

End of day: "Redraw the mid-arm cross-section for me." 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.