by AceMedEd

Teach card · keep it in your scrub pocket

Shoulder arthroscopy and rotator cuff tear

Ask during the case

  1. While we position and mark: "Beach chair or lateral decubitus today? Now show me the acromion, AC joint and coracoid, and where the posterior soft spot is."
  2. During the diagnostic arthroscopy: "Name what's on the screen as I sweep: biceps anchor, labrum, subscapularis, rotator interval. Which tendon is that at the top?"
  3. In the subacromial space, before the repair: "Which tendon is torn, which exam test would have been weak, and which nerve keeps the lateral portal from going lower?"

Point at: the biceps anchor and the upper border of subscapularis on the monitor, while they name them.

End of day: "Draw me the glenoid with the cuff around it, then the portal map." 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.