The shoulder joint is the most mobile joint in the body and therefore requires many different muscles to control it. The serratus anterior is one of those muscles. When this muscle does not work it can cause “winging” of your shoulder blade (as shown in the left side of the picture below). This is where the bottom corner of your shoulder blade
sticks out. You might notice the feeling of hitting your shoulder blade when you sit back against a chair, or maybe you can see the bottom corner of your shoulder blade sticking out when looking in a mirror. This winging can cause a whole domino effect of how your shoulder blade moves which affects your shoulder joint, which leads to decreased motion of your arm, pain when reaching overhead, inability to reach behind your back…. Yes, one little muscle can cause a whole bunch of problems when it's not working right!
So lets take a step back. The serratus is a muscle that connects the shoulder blades to your rib cage. This muscle helps keep the shoulder blade down against the rib cage and protract your shoulder. Protraction is when that shoulder blade rotates forward so you can reach a little extra further or punch forward. It can also assist you taking a deep breath to lift the ribs. When the shoulder blade is held tightly against the rib cage your body can work in its more efficient way. This allows more space in your shoulder joint so you can reach forward, overhead, out to the side and behind your back without hitting or pinching other things. So yes, this is a crucial muscle that we rely on every single day.
For athletes this shoulder becomes even more crucial. Yes it’s important that athletes body's move in the most efficient and pain free way, but additionally the serratus can increase power in throwing and overhead athletes. Because this muscle helps to pull your shoulder blade forward and move the arm in a forward punch motion this translates to more power when throwing a ball, spiking a volleyball or reaching overhead to pull the water in swimming.
In order to strengthen the serratus you have to focus on shoulder blade movement. A push up plus (AKA scapular push up) is a great way to initiate getting this muscle to fire and seeing what it feels like. You will be in a plank (or knee plank), keeping your elbow locked straight the whole time you will sink your chest towards the floor so your shoulder blades pinch together towards your spine, then you will push your check as far away from the floor as your can, feeling your shoulder blades push as far apart as then can, almost in to your arm pits. Try to complete 3 sets of 15. Progress this by doing a plank with one hand on a box and the other on the floor, the arm on the box should have a nice straight elbow, complete the sink and push on just this side with the other hand touching the floor on the way down and being pushed away from the floor on the way up. Complete 3 sets of 10 on each side.
Next a foam roller can be used. Put this horizontal on a wall in front of you, with both hands on the foam roller in one fluid motion push that roller as high up the wall as you can, you will feel your shoulder blades stretch further apart as your get higher up the wall and move closer together as the foam roller lowers back down. Try to complete 3 sets of 10.
Putting more attention to your serratus muscle has great benefits for all people. It will provide increased shoulder stability when reaching over head in the grocery store or more power when spiking the ball in a volleyball game. Small changes and additions to your work out routine will have a big result.
In our therapy sessions we assess all muscles of the shoulder to find the weak spots and provide personalized treatment to get them stronger. Having muscle balance in the shoulder allows everything to sit and move as it should. Pain will be decrease and power will increase, doesn't get much better!
Baytide Health strives to write blogs that are easy for everyone to understand and feels like you're chatting with a friend. Learning and caring for your body should be easy, convenient….and enjoyable! Specifics questions or suggestions of topics? Send us a message! We write for you!
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