Who has shoulder pain? Who has poor posture? Who wants stronger arms?

I think many of us could answer “yes” to one of these questions.

If so, this post is for you!

A little background first:

The shoulder is a very complex system. Notice I didn’t say “the shoulder is a very complex joint.” You’re thinking “wait the shoulder is a joint, what are you talking about?”

Well, the shoulder is made up of four separate joints: the sternoclavicular joint (at our chest and collar bone), the acromioclavicular joint (at the collar bone and shoulder blade), the glenohumeral joint (at the ball and socket joint that we think of as the shoulder), and the scapulothoracic joint (at the shoulder blade and the thorax).

All three of these joints must be moving through the appropriate ranges with the appropriate muscular control in order to produce the motions that you want with your arm.

So it’s more of a system with all of the components working together.

You didn’t think it was that complicated, did you?

Bonus trivia: the only bony attachment from the shoulder to our body is through our sternoclavicular joint at the front of our chest. Crazy, I know!

Now you can see why the muscular control, strength and coordination needs to be on point when you reach your arm forwards to grab your cup of joe or when you push a heavy weight overhead.

There is something called force coupling that happens at the shoulder to produce overhead motions. One of the force couples that happens at the shoulder is between the serratus anterior (SA) and the trapezius. The other force couple at the shoulder blade is between, the subscapularis, there’s minor, and infraspinatus opposing the deltoid.

What is a force couple?

Essentially, it is opposing forces acting to stabilize or produce a movement.

Today we’re going to discuss the SA and why it’s so important.

The SA’s main function is protraction and upward rotation of the scapula (shoulder blade). It helps with external rotation and posterior tilting of the scapula as you raise your arm. All this is fancy lingo to say that they SA helps to rotate your scapula up so that you can reach your arm overhead easily without pain.

The SA also helps keep your shoulder blade securely attached to your thorax. Because remember, the shoulder is only connected to the rest of the body by bone at that teeny tiny point on the front of the chest.

This muscle needs to be strong enough that when we lift our arm, the deltoid doesn’t pull the scapula down in the opposite direction.

So what happens when this muscle isn’t strong enough?

Well, you can get pinching of your supraspinatus tendon (one of the rotator cuff muscles), shoulder pain, less efficient movement patterns, and adaptive shortening of your pec minor muscle.

How can you tell if your serratus anterior is firing properly?

The biggest sign is that your scapula is winging at rest or when you move your arm (ie. your shoulder blade is not sitting flat against your body). Another way to tell is if your scapula rotates down instead of up when you raise your arm out to the side.

I see that my scapula is winging, am I doomed?

Of course not!….

Here are two exercises to help get this muscle back in action:

  1. Bear Hugs: (exactly as it sounds!) Start with your arms reaching out in front of you. You may wrap an exercise band around your back and arms and hold it in your hands. Reach your arms as if you are hugging a bear or very large tree, allowing the shoulder blades to come apart. Then slowly return to starting position. Shoot for 2-3 sets of 15 reps.

  2. Serratus Push-ups: Start in a plank position on your hands and feet or hands and knees. Keep your core activated. Press your body backwards so that your spine is pushing towards the ceiling and your shoulder blades separate. Then slowly return to the starting position. Again shoot for 2-3 sets of 15 reps.

Test out these exercises and see how challenging or easy they are for you.

Working on scapular control will help you eliminate pain, improve the efficiency and ease of using your arm, improve your posture, and improve your overall shoulder strength.