The antagonist muscle of the levator scapular muscle are the serratus anterior and middle trapezius muscles. The serratus anterior formed the basal unit for these three muscles. We should also have the serratus anterior in this muscle group as well. The serratus anterior may be most overlooked muscle in importance for shoulder health in the throwing athlete. SA, serratus anterior; MT, middle trapezius; LT, lower trapezius; LD, latissimus dorsi. I’ve never actually talked to anyone who had weak rhomboids compared to the serratus anterior. Presented at the American Association of Plastic Surgeons Annual Meeting, May 21-24, 1984, Chicago, IL 7 If you didn’t see that post you can find it HERE.. We clearly see an example here of why the serratus is so important. Patients with shoulder impingement syndrome often demonstrate an overactive upper trapezius and a suppressed serratus anterior.20,21,33,34 The muscle-force imbalance between the upper trapezius and serratus anterior causes The pectoralis minor is located in an area of the shoulder with many other muscles, including the pectoralis major, biceps, deltoids, coracobrachialis, subscapularis, serratus anterior, and the latissimus dorsi. The activation phase has us using the isolated strengthening for the mod and lower traps, the rhomboids, and the serratus anterior. Today I want to discuss one of the biggest contributors in shoulder impingement injuries, weakness of the serratus anterior. I just figured it was probably your serratus anterior. We talked about the serratus anterior earlier this week and how to get it functioning again. Weak glutes and abdominals : * p<0.05 by Wilcoxon signed-rank test. In higher primates it has evolved into two separate muscles — serratus anterior and levator scapulae — … And technically, we could add the upper traps in there as well. And lastly, we’re going to strengthen the serratus anterior by doing something called the push-up plus. Overactive Synergists Cheat Sheet by Brent Brookbush DPT, PT, COMT, MS, PES, CES, CSCS, H/FS Brookbush Institute's Human Movement Science Rule #5: - Every inhibited prime mover will result in synergistic dominance of the ancillary movers for that joint action. But in most people this muscle is weak, inhibited and/or rarely considered Ok, so now we have really explored what the movement of the shoulder looks like if Serratus Anterior functions poorly - you will see winging, excessive early elevation, poor scapular posture such as overactive pecs closing the Introduction to Activation Exercise: By Brent Brookbush DPT, PT, COMT, MS, PES, CES, CSCS, H/FS Definition: Isolated* Activation Technique/Exercise - A single-joint movement pattern (most often) designed to load a specific under-active muscle(s), while minimizing the contribution of over-active synergists via specific cues/joint motions. … More Serratus Anterior Weakness: One of Many Reasons for Shoulder Blade Winging Buncke HJ, Alpert BS, Gordon L, et al: Free serratus anterior muscle transplantation for unilateral facial nerve paralysis. But in some shoulder conditions, the shoulder blade does not lie flat on the chest any more; it protrudes like the wing of a bird. 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