by AceMedEd

Teach card · keep it in your scrub pocket

Wrist anatomy

Ask during the case

  1. Before a volar incision: "Which side of the FCR is the palmar cutaneous branch on, and which side is the radial artery?"
  2. On the dorsum: "Name the six dorsal compartments, radial to ulnar, with their tendons. Which one turns around Lister's tubercle?"
  3. Over the carpal tunnel: "What's the roof, what's in it, and where is the recurrent motor branch?"

Point at: the tendon you are retracting or the nerve you are protecting, while they name it.

End of day: "Redraw both slices 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.