Scapular Instability: A Common Source of Neck and Shoulder Pain

​Scapular instability (winging shoulder blade) is a rampant problem in people who do pushups, planks, yoga poses or any other hand or elbow support exercises. Very few trainers, coaches, yoga instructors, chiros, or orthopedists are fixing it let alone looking for it. It is a sign of weakness/inhibition of the serratus anterior (primarily) and/or hyperactivity of the pecs major/minor. It often leads to neck, shoulder and upper extremity complaints. This is a simple test I do with these patients. Simply asking them to get into quadriped position will often reveal the problem. You can then ask them to rock forward, left, right and lift one hand off the floor to increase the demand to see if the scapular stabilizers are up to the challenge. Here you can see instability on both sides. The left is worse. In my clinic, I will treat the patient to reprogram their posture and nervous system to increase the strength and neural efficiency of the serratus and decrease pec hyperactivity. Then we will move to corrective exercises.