Serratus Anterior Muscle

The serratus anterior muscle is one that you may have never heard about, but I can assure you that it is one of major importance to the function of your shoulder. You can compare it to a muscle in your knee that might be more well known. The VMO. When this muscle is not working correctly, you will have a lot of problems in your knee. Similarly, the serratus anterior muscle is extremely important to your scapula stability, and one that you need to make sure is functioning well. The thing is, it is so unknown and causes so many problems. Thankfully, there is a simple fix, coming from one exercise you may not have known existed.

Why You Need To Have Scapula Stability?

Most shoulder injuries arise from scapula instability. A lot of people will have poor control over their shoulder blade, and as a result, will be at risk of many different shoulder injuries, such as a pinched nerve in the shoulder, rotator cuff problems and other impingement issues. Think about how mobile your shoulder joint is. You glenohumeral joint, which is your major shoulder joint is very shallow, and needs a lot of help to stay stable. You scapula is very important in the proper biomechanics of your shoulder. Very few ligaments joint the scapula to the body, and there fore your serratus anterior muscle is of upmost importance in shoulder function.

Tell Me More About The Serratus Anterior And Why It Is So Important

When people go to the gym and work their upper body, most of the time they will be working out their upper body with exercises like the bench press and seated row. Although these are great for strength, they will be using downward rotation of the scapula. This means the movement of the scapula when you raise your arm up. A very big imbalance can occur, and it is very easy to become stronger at downward rotation than upward. The serratus anterior muscle is responsible for upward rotation, and is necessary to develop for shoulder health. The other important thing it does is ensure that the scapula stays against the ribcage, which helps to enhance shoulder stability and scapula stability.

Although it is very rare to have serratus anterior muscle pain, it is extremely common that this muscle simply turns off. When there is an issue in the shoulder, this is one of the first muscles to disfunction. Not only can it add to the problems, a poorly developed and poorly functioning serratus anterior muscle can also cause many problems.

If you are looking for a good serratus anterior exercise to do, then look no further than the push up. This great, simple and much underused exercise is one of the only chest exercises that will engage your serratus anterior every time. Don’t just go to the bench press every time, ensure that you add push ups into your routine. Not only will you help develop this troublesome muscle, you will also get some great strength and power benefits!