Lecture Part One: The Strength of Devotion: Supporting Scapular Glide through Serratus Anterior Activation
The Strength of Devotion: Supporting Scapular Glide through Serratus Anterior Activation
Scapular Exercises and Movements from Class:
(Rough Transcript for class, expect Typos)
Feeling our Scapulas Surf
Starting to see our Scapulas: Understanding the dynamic movement of the shoulders requires a more subtle understanding of the scapulas themself. Because they are behind us, the scapulas can be hard to visualize and understand— but their movement comprises a huge portion of all shoulder movement— so if we can’t feel and visualize our scapulas moving, how can we expect to understand the bigger picture of scapulohumeral rhythm?
Surfing Scapulas: A unique aspect of scapular movement is that they move over the curved surface of the ribs. Understanding this will allow you to feel the more dynamic and natural support of the scapulas in scapulohumeral rhythm. Franklin uses the helpful analogy of the scapula as a surfboard and the ribs as a cresting wave to help us understand the reality of our scapular movement, and equally important, the analogy alludes to the dynamism of support required in our scapulas— It has to glide in order to function. Anchoring the shoulder blades down is like learning to surf with a board that is attached to the ground beneath it, this may work at Disney, but watch out when you’re facing real waves in your life.
Franklin’s Visualization of Scapulas: “The scapula (shoulder blade) can glide up and down on the back side of the ribcage or thorax; it can also move toward (adduction) and away (abduction) from the spine, and it can rotate. However, the nature of scapular motions over the curved surface of the ribcage is more complex than these terms imply. It may help to visualize a surfboard (the scapula) on the crest of a rounded wave (the thorax). The surfboard can potentially dip and slide off the wave in four different ways. If the surfboard (scapula) dips and glides sideways (horizontally) down the slope of the wave (thorax), it is called abduction or adduction. These motions are not linear, but curved, with the surfboard (scapula) always in contact with the water (thorax). If the surfboard dips forward and glides off the wave in a superior direction, it elevates the shoulder blades. Once again, these are curved motions, with the surfboard (scapula) remaining in contact with the water (thorax). The reverse scapular glide in an inferior direction is called depression.” (225)
Hand/scapula Exercise: Let’s explore our scapular movement, as described by Franklin, with our hands as a mirror of their movements.
Hold your hands in front of you, palms forward, at about shoulder height. This should feel neutral. Imagine squeezing a large beach ball between your elbows— the thumb edge of your hand will turn towards you and the pinky away from you. This imitates the scapulas gliding laterally on the rib cage, adduction, and when you move in the reverse direction they are abducting. From nuetral position you can lift the elbows laterally, like the x ray machines at TSA at the airport— you will see the bottom of your hands swing out to the sides and fingertips point in. This is upward rotation and downward rotation of the scapulas. If the hands lift up and down without pivoting, they just glide up and down, and this would be elevation and depression of the scapulas.
Scapular stability is strength
Foundations First: As we’ve seen throughout this training, when we pay attention to our silent foundation, the movement above it becomes both more stable and stronger. As the yogic tradition has always reminded us, the stronger one’s foundation, the larger the experience above it we can build. Because when it comes to the shoulders and arms, we all want to be stronger, but we have to keep looking beneath the surface to find the source of that strength. For example, The National Academy of Sports Medicine writes that “It’s been estimated that shoulder strength is increased by up to 24% with appropriate scapular stabilization,” meaning that overall shoulder strength can be increased by 25% just be strengthening one’s foundation— that’s significant. This means that the ability of our scapula’s to maintain a connection to our rib cage as they move determines 1/4 of their strength. Being able to maintain our inner connection while moving through our external lives has a significant impact on our overall experience of our strength in life. That’s a tall task, and a foundation of the yogic tradition.
The strength of Devotion: Hanuman was a very devoted practitioner— he really loved Ram with all his heart, a very rare quality for any practitioner. He looked for Ram in everything he did, always reaching beneath the surface in every activity. After his epic journeys and battles with Ram that comprised the Ramayana, and peace had been established across the world, Ram told all of his followers to return home and resume their practice in their lives. Hanuman was sad to go, but knew it was time. Sita, seeing his incredible devotion, gave him a precious necklace— and Hanuman started to bite the rocks in half— everyone there was appalled by his actions, and Sita exclaimed, ‘what are you doing hanuman,’ to which he replied, I’m just trying to find Rama. The other followers in the room laughed, and teased Hanuman about his devotion, saying that he was a little overt the top— saying that if he really had that much love for Ram then to show it.
To which Hanuman literally opened his own chest, revealing a shrine to Ram and Sita in his heart. Its a bit of a gorey image, but its one that has been passed down for thousands of years, so you gotta open to it. There is a great song by MC Yogi that tells this same story…
Hanuman G, there's nobody is greater / but sometimes Homie you have funny behavior / Once when Sita gave You a necklace / you bit it with your teeth like it Was your breakfast / then Sita asked "Hanuman what Was wrong with the mala" / you replied that you were Just tryin to find Rama / then someone said "Hanuman Is Ram inside of you" / and in that moment you revealed Your Truth / you tore open your chest and inside your Heart / Ram was shining like a diamond inside the dark / you said when your separate that's when you serve / but when your connected you and Ram merge / chanting Jai Jai Ram with the cymbals in your hand / going on And on like a one man band / singing Shri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram / going on and on till the break of dawn
Targeting the Serratus and Low Traps: So as the science of the shoulder and the science of yoga teach, our strength is in our foundation. Which is why the National Association of Sports Medicine concludes that “In many cases the lower trapezius and the serratus anterior muscles are found to be weak and/or underactive in individuals with scapular dyskinesis.” Scapular Dyskinesis refers to a deviation in the normal resting or active position of the scapula during shoulder movement— resulting in a ‘winging’ of the shoulder blades away from the rib cage. This would be like the surfboard leaving the wave, it would lose its stability. When we lose our foundation, we lose our strength.
Traps and Serratus in Rhythm: We have taken time to describe the role of the rotator cuff in supporting the stability of the shoulder joint, and as we move into the functional muscles of the scapula we encounter the larger players— the Trapezius and Serratus Anterior. As we can see in this diagram from the Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy, these two muscles play a huge role in the overall rotation, or rhythm, of the scapula as the humerus engages with the world. And as the NASM concluded, when these muscles aren’t performing well, the shoulder blade loses its proximity to the rib cage, winging, and the movement is inefficient and unstable, which decreases the strength of the joint and makes it prone to injury or discomfort.
Activating the Lower Traps: We have already spent time working with our lower trapezius muscles in this training for just this purpose. In our second class, we discussed the causes and effects of forward head posture— the upper traps begin to not only do the work of turning and articulating the head, but also the work of holding the head up in general— which should be accomplished by the lower traps, as well as other key muscles such as Splenius Capitis and Sternocleidomastoid.
The result of this recruitment is that the lower traps turn off, or atrophy, and the upper traps work over-time, resulting in a sore neck at first, and then a slow slide into kinks and injuries as gravity, weight and time take their toll. As the upper traps double down on their upward pull on the scapulas, and the lower traps remain offline, the scapulas themselves are pulled further and further forward, creating a slouched posture that perpetuates itself. Lower trap activation both unloads the neck and upper traps, but also resets the scapular-thoracic junction in order to allow for scapular glide and stability along the ribs. To this end we incorporated a shoulder smear Bridge posture to break up crystallization, as well as concentric and eccentric Lower trapezius exercises. Feel free to glance back at that material and re-incorporate it into your daily practice.
Finding the Serratus Anterior: The other half of our scapular equation, according to the NASM and our general experience, is the Serratus Anterior— a serrated muscle, attaching to the front and outside of our rib cage, looking much like a bird’s wings— which fits very well with our theme of scapular stabilization being the key to soaring in our shoulders.
The serratus anterior attaches to the anterior side of our scapula, the front facing side. If your ribs and scapula were bread, then picture the serratus anterior as the peanut butter holding them together. It is easy to palpate between the pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi muscles— these two muscles from the front and back of your arm pit, if you bring a finger tip to the bottom of your arm pit, where they meet, you will be feeling the portion of the rib cage that the serratus anterior attaches. As we learn how to activate the serratus anterior in a moment, you will be able to do a one handed plan at the wall and feel the serratus come on. As we saw earlier, weakness here leads to shoulder winging and disfunction as well.
Slow and Steady with the Serratus: The serratus muscle is a deep muscle of the shoulder, and activating it takes patience and sensitivity. It is the kind of muscle that takes time to find, and then focus to re-find as you attempt to incorporate it more and more into your practice. Like our deep core, it is not the kind of muscle you would try to bulk up in isolation, but something you would want to strengthen as you move through different angles and body weighted positions. In the beginning, we will isolate the serratus anterior, but there’s no need to over-do it. This is a long term goal that has to do with working well with our shoulders over time.