Trigger point · Shoulders

Subscapularis TrP1

The point behind a great many frozen shoulders, and the owner of the strangest referral in the body. The subscapularis lies on the front surface of the shoulder blade — sandwiched between the blade and the ribcage, in a place most people never imagine a muscle being — and its points refer to the back of the shoulder AND to a band around the wrist, like a bracelet or a watch strap. Nothing about the anatomy predicts a wristband. It is recorded because it is observed. Clinically this is the heavyweight of the shoulder: it is a leading cause of the shoulder that will not turn outward or lift, it is a major and treatable component of the presentation people are told is adhesive capsulitis, and it is nearly always missed because reaching it means going in under the shoulder blade from the armpit.