Anna Folckomer: Winged Scapula and the Serratus

Does your client or patient have a winged scapula? Check and see what their core is doing.

I want everybody to watch this. Jake is going to show us protraction and retraction. Jake, if you can just go into protraction for me?

Serratus anterior is a protractor, so what position are we in here? What just happened to these muscle fibers? They shortened.

Jake, can you come into a retraction?

Nice. What position is serratus in? It’s in a long position. Notice his scapula here. If he’s a neutral position and his scapula was winging—let’s say we were doing an assessment on him and were checking to see his scapula or thoracic articulation and he had a winged scapula.

What’s up with serratus at that point? What’s its deal? What’s it doing?

It’s going to be stuck in a long position. We want to check its ability to enter its concentric and eccentric phases. Do you think a shoulder problem such as scapula or thoracic disarticulation—would that ever precede core instability?

You have to check that first, especially if it’s on both sides. If both of Jake’s scapulae were winging, we have to check to see what his core is doing. We have to see what kind of force transfer he’s receiving  from his abdomen.

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