Nerve · Shoulders

Upper subscapular nerve

Nervus subscapularis superior

A short, purely motor nerve from the posterior cord of the brachial plexus that runs backwards for only a centimetre or two before sinking straight into the upper part of subscapularis, on the front surface of the shoulder blade. It is one of three nerves the posterior cord gives to that region, and the simplest: it supplies no skin, crosses no joint and travels nowhere. Its interest is that subscapularis — the rotator cuff muscle hidden between the scapula and the ribs — receives a double supply, and this is the upper half of it.