The Scapula Plays An Important Roll In Preventing Shoulder Pain
If you google shoulder exercises, you will likely find a lot of rotator cuff strengthening exercises. There’s one thing missing in these program. They don’t address the scapula (shoulder blade).
The scapula accounts for roughly 1/3 of the overhead motion. The humerus (arm bone) moves first, then the scapula, then the humerus again. If the scapula doesn’t move, the humerus has to do all the movement in a way that the joint was designed for. This is what may lead to diagnoses like bursitis, impingement, rotator cuff tendonitis.
When you look at the back of the shoulder, the inner border of your scapula should be parallel to your spine. And when you raise your arm up, the bottom angle of the scapula should end up in your arm pit.
Common muscles that are tight include your latisimus dorsi, and your levator scapula. My next post will show stretches for these 2 muscles.
Common muscles that are weak include your serratus anterior and your middle trapezius. I will also include exercises to help strengthen these muscles.
— Korey Pieper, DPT, OCS