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Chiropractic and Shoulder Problems Part 2

© Dr. David L. Phillips

This article is a continuation of a 4-part series. In the first part we discussed some basic concepts of shoulder anatomy, which will enhance your understanding of this topic. Today let's look at some kinesiology, OK? All right then...

The shoulder joint is roughly a ball and socket joint. The ball is at the end of the upper arm bone and the socket is formed by the shoulder blade or scapula. The socket that the scapula makes is a bit of a joke, actually it's quite flat, only a little dished out and is almost completely vertical. Unlike the hip joint, which is a true ball and socket, the surrounding muscles and ligaments actually hold the shoulder together.

If you were to cut away all the muscles and ligaments from the hip joint, it would still require more than 100 pounds of force to pull the joint apart. Without the muscles and ligaments holding the shoulder, your arm would simply fall to the floor. If you remember the discussion of tonic and phasic muscles from Part 1, you will now see why some of the shoulder muscles are tonic. These muscles need to be always somewhat active in order to maintain joint integrity and hold the whole thing up against gravity.

The supraspinatus muscle is the main tonic holder. This muscle sits on top of your shoulder blade, just above the spine of the scapula and frequently is somewhat tender to touch. The spine of the scapula is that horizontal bone that you can feel running across each of your shoulder blades. If someone were to rub the supraspinatus muscle you would just never want it to stop.

The reason that this muscle is most often the offending culprit in shoulder pain is that it simply never stops working. Even at night while sleeping when every other muscle in your body has a chance to rest, your poor supraspinatus muscle is working to hold the bones of your upper arm and scapula together. This continual need for effort is one reason why the supraspinatus muscle is the first to cause trouble when things aren't working right in the shoulder.

Another aspect of basic anatomy that is important in the knowledge of shoulder pain is how the actual joint moves.

As you raise your arm to comb your hair, put on a sweater, or swish away mosquitoes for example, 2 movements are going on inside your shoulder joint. The arm bone or ball of the joint is rotating upwards, and at the same time, it is sliding downwards. At least this is what is supposed to be happening.

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