by AceMedEd

Teach card · keep it in your scrub pocket

Pediatric supracondylar humerus fracture

Ask during the case

  1. Before the child goes to sleep: "Show me the exam you documented. How did you test the AIN, the radial nerve and the ulnar nerve, and is the hand perfused?"
  2. On the first lateral fluoroscopy image after reduction: "Where does the anterior humeral line cross the capitellum, and is this a true lateral? How can you tell?"
  3. On the AP before the medial pin, if one is placed: "How does the Baumann angle compare with the other side, and where is the ulnar nerve right now?"

Point at: the anterior humeral line and the capitellum on the lateral fluoroscopy image, while they say which third it crosses.

End of day: "Draw me a lateral elbow with its lines, then the supracondylar slice with the three nerves and how you test each." 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, with Rockwood and Green for fractures. Teaching schematic, not to scale; anatomy and technique vary. Management and indications are left to you on purpose.