A biographical tribute to Charles Sumner Neer II, written by six colleagues who trained and worked alongside him. It chronicles his career at Columbia-Presbyterian, his foundational scholarly contributions, and his role in building shoulder surgery as an organized subspecialty. This is essential reading for understanding why the classifications and techniques in your shoulder textbook exist.
Every classification you use on your shoulder shelf exam traces back to one person. When you call a proximal humerus fracture 'two-part,' you are applying Neer's 1970 threshold: >1 cm displacement or >45° angulation makes a segment a 'part.' When you stage a patient's impingement as Stage II vs. Stage III, you are deciding whether they need acromioplasty based on his 1983 framework.
The MDI concept has a direct operative implication: because MDI lacks a Bankart lesion, a standard Bankart repair fails. The inferior capsular shift targets the actual pathology — the redundant inferior pouch. Knowing the anatomy of the problem changes the operation.
For distal clavicle fractures, Neer's Type I vs. Type II distinction is still the first question you should ask: are the coracoclavicular ligaments intact? If yes, treat nonoperatively. If no, the fracture is unstable and requires fixation.
A biographical tribute to Charles Sumner Neer II, written by six colleagues who trained and worked alongside him. It chronicles his career at Columbia-Presbyterian, his foundational scholarly contributions, and his role in building shoulder surgery as an organized subspecialty. This is essential reading for understanding why the classifications and techniques in your shoulder textbook exist.
Every classification you use on your shoulder shelf exam traces back to one person. When you call a proximal humerus fracture 'two-part,' you are applying Neer's 1970 threshold: >1 cm displacement or >45° angulation makes a segment a 'part.' When you stage a patient's impingement as Stage II vs. Stage III, you are deciding whether they need acromioplasty based on his 1983 framework.
The MDI concept has a direct operative implication: because MDI lacks a Bankart lesion, a standard Bankart repair fails. The inferior capsular shift targets the actual pathology — the redundant inferior pouch. Knowing the anatomy of the problem changes the operation.
For distal clavicle fractures, Neer's Type I vs. Type II distinction is still the first question you should ask: are the coracoclavicular ligaments intact? If yes, treat nonoperatively. If no, the fracture is unstable and requires fixation.