What causes shoulder blade protrusion?

For people with a thin body, the shoulder blades are prone to protrusion, especially when wearing less clothes. The back will show obvious protrusion of the shoulder blades, which does not look particularly beautiful. In addition, it is also related to the stability of the muscles and nerve damage. It has an important relationship with poor development and morphological abnormalities. When the shoulder blades protrude, certain methods can be used to improve and correct them.

What causes shoulder blade protrusion?

Scapular hypoplasia and abnormal shape: Sprengel deformity refers to the shoulder blade being higher than the normal position relative to the thorax, usually accompanied by hypoplasia and abnormal shape. Other congenital malformations may also be present, such as cervical ribs, rib hypoplasia, and cervical vertebrae deformities (Klippel-Feil syndrome), and occasionally one or more shoulder girdle muscles are partially or completely absent. Unless the deformity is very severe, serious functional impairment generally does not occur. When the deformity is mild, there is only a slight elevation of the scapula, the scapula is slightly smaller than normal, and the movement is slightly restricted. But in cases where the deformity is severe, the scapula is not only very small but also positioned high, even touching the occipital bone. The patient's head is often tilted to the affected side, and about 1/3 of the patients have an extra small bone, the scapular vertebra, which is a diamond-shaped piece of bone or cartilage located in a solid fascial sheath and extends from the upper angle of the scapula to the spinous processes, lamina and transverse processes of one or more low cervical vertebrae.

Sometimes the scapula and vertebrae form a well-developed joint; sometimes there is only fibrous tissue connecting the scapula; it is extremely rare for a bone bridge to form between the scapula and vertebrae. Cho used 3D-CT to conduct a morphometric study on 15 patients and found that the morphological characteristics of the high scapula were mainly manifested by a reduced height-to-width ratio of the scapula, but it was larger than the contralateral scapula; the rotation function of the scapula was inversely proportional to the position of the scapula elevation, but there was no significant difference with the morphology of the glenoid cavity.

Relief method: Friends who have no training foundation can try the seated rowing exercise: sit in front of the equipment, put your feet on the pedals, straighten your back, slightly lean your upper body back, and hold the handles with both hands; contract your back to pull your elbows behind your body, and feel your shoulder blades moving closer to the spine from both sides; then slowly return to the posture in Figure 1, and do this 12 times in a row. Practice every other day, 2-3 sets each time, 12-15 times each set. Most gyms have this kind of equipment, and the simple fitness equipment in the community can also do similar exercises. The seated rowing exercise is also suitable for women. It can help you shape a flat and beautiful back and add more grace. If you train at home, you can try the one-arm rowing movement: bend your knees slightly, lean your upper body forward, and keep your lower back straight. Support your right hand forward on the edge of the bed, and hold a small 6-8 pound dumbbell in your left hand, letting it hang naturally. Contract your back muscles, bring the left shoulder blade closer to the spine, and pull the left elbow back and up. Then control the dumbbell and slowly lower it to the initial position. If you don't have dumbbells, you can use any heavy object that is easy to hold, such as a book, a drink bottle, etc. If you are a regular at the gym, you should ask a trainer to help you develop a back training plan. It generally includes a variety of movements such as pulling backwards, pulling downwards, and making the upper body lean forward and then straighten up. It should also be supplemented by training with different equipment such as pullers, barbells, dumbbells, etc. Pay attention to mastering the correct movement standards first, and then gradually increase the weight