Understand you shoulder pain better. This slideshare demonstrates shoulder anatomy in an easy to understand way.

1. Shoulder Anatomy.
Information for patients.
Dr Geoffrey Smith
Images courtesy of www.biodigital.com

2. Bones
• The shoulder
(glenohumeral joint) is
a ball and socket joint.
• The ball is at the top of
the arm bone (the
humerus).
• The socket is the
glenoid which is part
of the shoulder blade
(scapula).
Humerus Scapula

3. Soft tissue
• The glenohumeral joint
is surrounded by a
sleeve of tissue (the
capsule).
• The capsule is thick in
places & forms
ligaments.
Capsule

4. Tendons
• Outside the capsule
are the tendons of the
rotator cuff.
• Tendons are where
muscles attach to
bone.
• Muscle pulling on
bones through
tendons produces
movement at joints.

5. Rotator Cuff
• The rotator cuff is
composed of 4 tendons
• Subscapularis (at the
front)
• Supraspinatus and
infraspinatus (at the
top)
• Teres minor (at the
back).
Subscapularis
Supraspinatus
Infraspinatus
Teres Minor

6. Subacromial space
• Above the rotator cuff is the
acromion which is the bone
you can feel on the top of
your shoulder.
• The acromion is part of the
shoulder blade (scapula).
• The subacromial space is
between the undersurface of
the acromion and the upper
surface of the rotator cuff.
• The subdeltoid or
subacromial bursa (a sac of
fluid) occupies the
subacromial space.
Acromion
Subacromial bursa

7. Clavicle and AC joint
• At the front of the
shoulder the acromion
articulates with the
collar bone (clavicle) at
the acromioclavicular
joint (ACJ)
• The ACJ is stabilised by
the ACJ capsule and the
coracoclavicular
ligaments
Clavicle
Acromion AC joint
Coracoclavicular
Ligaments
ACJ capsule

8. Biceps tendon
• The biceps muscle (the strong
muscle at the front of the arm)
has two tendons.
• One (long head or LHB) is
attached to the top of socket of
the shoulder joint.
• The second tendon is attached to
the coracoid process (part of the
scapula). This is a finger-like
projection of bone that you can
feel about 4 cm below the outer
part of your collar bone.
• The two tendons join together to
form the biceps muscle at the top
of the arm
LHB
Coracoid
process
Biceps Muscle