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Orthopaedics
Supraclavicular Nerve Lesions
Built from Pillemer — Physical Signs in Orthopaedics and Neurology
What’s inside
6 sections · 35 slides
Overview
- What this topic teaches you
- How we will build the picture
- The big idea in one slide
Anatomy
Where the nerve comes from and the skin it supplies
- What is the supraclavicular nerve?
- C3 and C4 join to form the nerve trunk
- The path the nerve takes
- Why the posterior triangle location matters
- The nerve splits into three branches
- The three branches fanning over the shoulder
- Branch-by-branch: what each one covers
- Two more facts that matter
- The skin territory of the nerve
- Plain-English glossary of the key terms
Mechanism of Injury
The forces and situations that damage the nerve
- How does the nerve get injured?
- An unusual real-world example
Clinical Presentation
What the patient notices and what you can feel
- The key finding: where sensation drops
- Where the numbness is found
- What you can feel at the bedside
Diagnosis
The simple bedside findings that clinch it
- Three findings that make the diagnosis
- Reading the diagnostic triad
- A simple bedside pathway to the diagnosis
- How to run the examination, step by step
Clinical Significance
Why missing it leads to the wrong operation
- Why does getting this right matter?
- SCN lesion vs the mistaken diagnosis
- The pay-off of the correct diagnosis
- Key takeaways
- Why can a purely sensory nerve lesion still be mistaken for a surgical shoulder problem?
- References
- Physical Signs in Orthopedic and Neurologic Disorders: A Practical Guide