The space between the ribs and the shoulder blades fascinate me. I’m never quite sure if people are able to translate my attempts into motion, but I’ll keep at it. The image below, when compared with the image from the previous post may help. Try scrolling from one image to the other a couple times if your device allows it. You can see how the torso increases in length when the collarbones are elevated. Take notice how much space there is between the ribs and the glenohumeral joint. There are a lot of nerves that travel through there and they appreciate room to glide freely.
When the collarbones are elevated, you can see more of the anterior side of the shoulder blades. There’s also a lifting affect all the way down to the floating ribs. This gives the entire torso a greater sense of space.
Look at the space between the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint and the acromial arch (where the collarbone meets the shoulder blade) above it. Losing the ability to experience this space can lead to shoulder impingements and an inability to reach over our heads. It usually happens slowly over time. Reaching overhead daily can keep this space mapped in our experience. We’ll cover dead hanging and brachiation (reaching overhead) in a post in the near future.
The shoulder blades and collarbones have a tremendous amount of movement potential. Exploring how they move will ease neck tension, increase breath efficiency and improve function and rhythm of the arms. In the next post we’ll look at some of the nerves that travel from the neck down the arms to the hands.