Clinical anatomy of the nerve supply to the upper limb

In 1963, Dr David Little noted the clinical relevance of the brachial plexus to the anaesthetist: ‘Man uses his arms and hands constantly. As a result, he exposes his arms and hands to injury constantly. The combination of man's prehensility and his unflagging appetite keeps a steady flow of patients with injured upper extremities and full stomachs streaming into hospital emergency rooms. This is why the brachial plexus is so frequently the anaesthesiologist's favourite group of nerves’.1