by AceMedEd

Teach card · keep it in your scrub pocket

Neck pain

Ask in clinic

  1. Before you see a patient with arm pain: "A C5–C6 disc herniation usually pinches which root, and what would you expect to find on exam?"
  2. After you examine a patient with numb or clumsy hands: "Show me Hoffmann's sign and the grip-and-release test. What else would make you worry about the cord?"
  3. With an axial MRI on the screen: "Point to the cord, the foramen and the exiting root. Is this central stenosis, foraminal stenosis, or both?"

Point at: the cord, the foramen and the exiting root on an axial MRI, while they name what bounds each one.

End of day: "Draw me the C5–C6 slice and write the root table from C5 to T1." Three minutes, no notes.

Where this kit and your technique differ, yours wins.

Send this to your students

The night before clinic. They learn the anatomy and practice the exam tonight, use it between patients, and get a cold check tomorrow. 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.