The gross anatomy of the peri-articular tissues of the shoulder joint.

Since it has become evident that the pathological changes underlying disorders of the shoulder mechanism are not, in a number of cases, localized in one of the major joints of this region (scapulohumeral and acromio-clavicular joints), but, instead, in the tissues surrounding these joints, the need for a thorough knowledge of the anatomy of this tissue has imposed itself on all those who have to deal with such disorders. In the current textbooks of anatomy, however, little attention has been paid to the structures surrounding the shoulder joints. Although more or less adequate accounts of the matter are found in Rouviere's (1945) and in Frohse and Fraenkel's (1908) textbooks, and in some special papers dealing with the subject (Henke, 1874; Pfuhl, 1934; Kahlmeter, 1941) the distribution ofthese works has, perhaps, not been sufficiently wide to provide for a satisfactory introduction of the pertinent facts into clinical medicine. It is for this reason that we submit the present accountwhich is based partly on the foregoing papers and partly on our own observations on a large amount of dissecting-room material-to those clinicians who will be most interested in the anatomical basis of shoulder movements.