Anatomy Insight - Shoulder girdle Anatomy

Shoulder girdle Anatomy

Listen to this guide 🎧

Audio version available to support all learning styles. Press play to listen!

English (US)

English (UK)

Image by Anatomy Standard, cropped from the original, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

The shoulder girdle, also known as the pectoral girdle, is a flexible bony structure that connects the upper limbs to the trunk.

It is made up of two bones on each side of the body — the clavicle (collarbone) and the scapula (shoulder blade). At the front of the body, the clavicles are connected to the manubrium, the upper part of the sternum.

The clavicle

The clavicle, or collarbone, is a long, curved bone you can feel under your skin from your neck to your shoulder.

It connects the upper arm to the central part of your skeleton and works with the scapula (shoulder blade) to support shoulder movement.

Image by Anatomy Standard, cropped from the original, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

The scalpula

The scapula, also called the shoulder blade, is connected to the rest of the skeleton by the clavicle (collarbone). The shoulder blade is not directly attached to the spine or ribs.

Movements of the scapula help a lot with moving the upper arm. The scapula connects to the humerus (upper arm bone) at the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and to the clavicle at the acromioclavicular joint.

The scapula helps link the arm to the body.
It is a flat, triangle-shaped bone and provides space for many muscles to attach — in fact, about 17 muscles connect to the scapula!

Joints

The bones of the shoulder girdle work together to form four important joints:

The sternoclavicular (SC) joint - formed between the sternum and clavicle.

The SC joint connects the inside end of the clavicle to the manubrium (top part of the breastbone or sternum).

It works like a ball-and-socket joint, allowing the shoulder to move in many directions.

This joint also gets support from the first rib's cartilage. It’s the only joint that directly links your arm to your main skeleton.

The scapulothoracic joint - formed between the scapula and the posterior thoracic cage.

This isn’t a true joint with bones touching. It’s where the front of the scapula moves along the back of the rib cage.

Muscles like the trapezius, rhomboids, serratus anterior, and pectoralis minor control its movement.

It helps the shoulder move up, down, forward, backward, and rotate. This joint is important for full shoulder motion.

The glenohumeral (shoulder) joint - formed between the scapula and humerus.

This is the main shoulder joint where the head of the humerus (upper arm bone) fits into the glenoid cavity of the scapula.
It's a ball-and-socket joint with a very wide range of motion.
It’s supported by a loose joint capsule and ligaments, including: