All About the Shoulder Girdle
FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT RESOURCES
Basically, The "shoulder girdle” connects your arms to the bones along the sides of the body. The shoulder girdle is one of the most interesting aspects of the body because of its high degree of movement and its natural lack of stability or anchoring to the rest of the trunk. The shoulder girdle is comprised of four bones: scapulae, clavicle, sternum, and humeri and attaches to the rest of the torso via two very small joints in the front of the body called the sternoclavicular joints.
Watch the video as you take these key points away when it comes to how the bones actually move together in common/every day movemets:
Flexion/lifting the arm straight in front of you: Upward rotation of the scapula
Abduction/taking the arm away from the midline: Upward rotation of the scapula
Flexion above 90 degrees/lifting the arm over head or above shoulder: Slight elevation of the scapula
Extension/reaching the arm behind the waist: Downward rotation of the scapula accompanies
Extension of more than 50 degrees: Slight anterior tilt
Remember to look at the whole body: Functional and healthy movement of the scapula depends largely on the placement of the ribcage and the position of the thoracic spine. The 🔑 is to make sure that the ribcage is wide and stacked on top of/or in alignment with the pelvis and that the head and neck are equally aligned.
TIP 💡Allow the shoulder blades to rise and fall with ease for scapular mobility and stability. Keeping the “shoulders soft” rather than down is one way to make sure that the upper trapezius and neck muscles aren’t over working, but that elevation and depression can happen effortlessly as they are meant to.