A body builder’s shoulder is basically the body part, linking the arm to the torso. This body part is riddled with a wide network of individual muscles each of which is crucial to a body builder. Some of these constitutive muscles include lats, pecs and delts. Various anatomical classifications also list the biceps as constituted in the shoulder.

So what is the function of these muscles in body building? The lats and delts form the width of the upper body. Wide shoulders are the driving desire of all body builders. It is therefore understandable why body builders focus devotedly on these particular muscle groups, effecting calculated workouts specifically targeting the shoulder.

Essentially, the shoulder is a body joint, anatomically described as ball-and-socket joint similar in kind to the hip joint. In this type of design, the ball derives from top most part of the humerus (upper arm bone). It resembles an ordinary ball stuck on a shaft, thus commonly called the humeral head. On the other hand, the socket emerges from the top corner of a triangular flat bone known as the shoulder blade or the scapula. The scapula wholly rests over the rib formation called the rib cage. As such the scapula extends from the back, across the rib cage and to the chest. It also has one side placed close to the very backbone midline, with its lower corner angled towards the shoulder to the top.
The shoulder blade is itself thick especially in the upper edge than on the lower edge, such that its top has a surface. This is different from the other two sides of the triangle which are sharply edged, with two distinct edges pointing towards the lower body and outwards. This top edge that points outwards from the body is anatomically referred to as the spine. The slightly depressed surface located on the very top of the blade is anatomically referred to as the supraspinous fossa. The name fossa is a technical term referring to a depression.

Along the spine and pointing towards the shoulder itself, is a bone extension, referred to as the acromion. It points outwards and arches wholly over the scapula surfaces just above the humeral head. The acromion is the bony top of a shoulder which can be felt by touching.

It is the acromion that incorporates the scapula from back to front by attaching to the collarbone also called clavicle, to fully complete the girdle of a shoulder. At the source point of the acromion and pointing outwards over the chest cavity, is a tiny bony knob referred to as the coracoid. The coracoid is attached to the short biceps muscles’ head, together with a decimal size muscles referred to as the pectoralis and coracobrachialis. These minor muscles form the pecs combined with a hardy ligament that fully connects the coracoid to the acromion.

The socket is wide open to permit an extensive range of joint motion. However the large motion range particularly endangers the shoulder in dislocating. A dislocation simply occurs if the humeral head overextends beyond the glenoid fossa and thus slips over the socket edge.

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