The Rotor Cuff.

This time we’re diving into more information about the rotator cuff muscles and what each one of them does. ⁣⁣
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Now – 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐚 (within the scapula). They also assist in movement, and since our shoulder joints are very mobile and allow us all kinds of movements these muscles have to do alot of work. ⁣⁣
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬 muscle performs abduction of the arm, and pulls the head of the humerus medially towards the glenoid cavity. It independently prevents the head of the humerus to slip inferiorly.⁣⁣
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐫 rotate the head of the humerus outward (external, or lateral, rotation) and they also assist in carrying the arm backward.⁣⁣
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Lastly, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬 rotates the head of the humerus medially (internal rotation) and adducts it. ⁣⁣
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Now, since these muscles keep the head of the humerus in place within the glenoid fossa of the scapula and work synergistically with other muscles to allow movement, this means that when we move our arms in space, even the scapula will have to move/tilt and allow enough space for the head of the humerus to move “freely”. ⁣⁣
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This means there’s a correlation between the movement of the arm & the scapula which will have to move together to allow functional moving patterns. ⁣