supraacromial

supraacromial nerves

The Nature of Pains About the Shoulder.—Pains just above the shoulder and about the acromion are due to involvement of the supraacromial nerves, which are branches of the fourth cervical. The deep-seated pains referred to the parts about the joint and in the deltoid, are caused by the circumflex nerve which originates from the fourth, fifth, and sixth cervical, and which is a sensory motor nerve. The superficial circumflex nerve-pains are felt more posteriorly and over the body of the deltoid; there is a painful point where the nerve becomes superficial (Fig. 8). Pains on the anterior and inner surfaces of the shoulder and upper arm are due to involvement of the intercostohumeral, second dorsal. Shoulder pains, however, generally may be said to be circumflex and supraacromial and to mean involvement of the fibers from the fourth, fifth, and sixth cervical nerve roots. […] Summary.—Shoulder pains, then, mean involvement mainly of the circumflex; if they extend up, the supraacromial nerves; if they extend down to involvement of the radial, and if they extend back to the collateral muscular nerves going to the scapular region.

1907 February 23, Charles L. Dana, “Brachial neuralgia and arm pains”, in George F. Shrady, editor, Medical Record. A Weekly Journal of Medicine and Surgery, volume 71, number 8 (Whole No. 1894), page 298