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The shoulder blade (scapula) is often a forgotten area of the body. The shoulder blade bone is a flat bone which rests on the back of the ribs. The movement of the shoulder blade contributes to approximately half of your total shoulder range of movement. The top, outside part of the scapula provides the socket for the upper arm bone (humerus) to sit in, thus creating the shoulder joint. If one part of this shoulder mechanism is not working well, the other part will take excessive load and create pain.

The shoulder blade is also connected to the neck and thoracic spine by strong muscular attachments. This means the shoulder blade plays a large and important role in movements of the upper body. It frequently contributes to pains in the neck and shoulder region.

When our physiotherapists assess the reasons behind why you have pain or problems in an area of the body, they perform a detailed assessment to determine all the contributing factors to why a problem has developed. From this assessment comes a plan to treat and rehabilitate the total area to restore normal movement and help reduce the likelihood of recurrence of problems.

Published in The Village Observer, November 2012. Written by: Burns Bay Physiotherapy.