by AceMedEd

Teach card · keep it in your scrub pocket

Shoulder anatomy

Ask during the case

  1. During a deltopectoral exposure: "What's on each side of this interval, which nerve supplies each side, and what do we do with the cephalic vein?"
  2. At the conjoined tendon: "Which side is safe, which nerve enters coracobrachialis from the deep medial side, and what runs along the lower border of subscapularis?"
  3. In clinic or the ED after a dislocation: "Which nerve do you test before and after reduction, how, and why doesn't a normal skin patch prove it's intact?"

Point at: the conjoined tendon, the cephalic vein or the lower border of subscapularis, while they name what lies medial and deep to it.

End of day: "Redraw the shoulder at the mid-glenoid for me." 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.