by AceMedEd

Teach card · keep it in your scrub pocket

Forearm anatomy

Ask during the case

  1. During exposure: "Which interval are we in, and which nerve supplies the muscle on each side of it?"
  2. In clinic: "Show me one motor test each for the AIN, the PIN and the ulnar nerve, and tell me which of the three has a skin territory you can check."
  3. On the film: "Only one forearm bone is broken. Which joint above or below do you look at, and what are those injuries called?"

Point at: the muscle on each side of the interval, while they name its nerve.

End of day: "Redraw the mid-forearm slice and shade the three compartments." 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.