by AceMedEd

Teach card · keep it in your scrub pocket

Hand anatomy

Ask during the case

  1. During a palmar exposure: "Which is more superficial in the palm, the common digital artery or the nerve, and which way does it flip in the finger?"
  2. In clinic, with a swollen finger: "Name Kanavel's four signs. Why does infection spread the whole length of the sheath?"
  3. Before any digital block: "How do you test FDS and FDP separately, and which two-point discrimination do you check first?"

Point at: the tendon, bundle or space you are looking at, while they name what lies palmar and dorsal to it.

End of day: "Redraw the palm slice and the finger slice for me." Two minutes each, 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.