all right let's talk about the scapula and answer the questions what is the scapula what are its primary bony landmarks and what are some reasons to learn about it hello everyone my name is dr morton and i am the noted anatomist so to begin with the scapula is also known as the shoulder blade so if we now take a look at the surface anatomy we see these two bones that are flat and irregularly shaped that kind of look like a shovel so the scapula has the following bony landmarks that we're going to cover now all right so let's get started so anonymous said what do we call this border of the scapula well it's on the medial side of the bone so let's call it the medial border of the scapula it's also the border that is closest to the vertical column so we'll also call it the vertebral border what about this one what about this border well it's on the lateral side of the bone so why don't we call it the lateral border of the scapula it's also the border that's close to your armpit so we'll call it the axillary border as well so the next one is going to be seen in this superior view of the right shoulder and that fossa is what anatomists wanted to name and a fossa is a shallow concave surface and they said well what do we call it well it's on the deep surface of the scapula right against the rib so why don't we call it the subscapular fossa the prefix sub means deep like a submarine goes deep to the water subscapular fossa is the deep surface of the scapula and so here in its anterior view it looks like that that shallow concave surface on the anterior surface of the scapula and here we have the subscapular fossa and we can see it right against the ribs so it's also called the costal surface of the scapula but subscapular fossa is was usually used and anatomist said well what do we name this muscle that's coming from the subscapular fossa and they said i know we'll call it the subscapularis muscle to talk about the next structure let's take a look at this picture of athens in greece this beautiful ancient city and on the outskirts of the city is xin they call it the acropolis and it got its name because in greek the prefix akron means highest or the summit and polis means city which basically means it's the highest part of the city and here's a picture of celine and i circa 2011 in athens and why am i showing this only because it looks really cool and it was 11 years ago for me right now i was thinner and this is before covert when we were traveling that's it and i also got a chance to go by mars hill that was fantastic all right so here we've got an anterior view of that structure and an atom has said well what do we call that structure well it's the highest point of the shoulder and so they said what is the word for highest well in greek it's across what is for shoulder it's almost so they called it the acromion the point the highest point of the shoulder is where it got its name just like the acropolis and so there is the acromion in this anterior view and then there is the acromion on the posterior view of the scapula and so when we're looking as a bird's eye view that's this flat surface and it's quite large that is the acromion and the acromion also articulates with the clavicle and so between the acromion and clavicle is a joint and so they called this joint the acromioclavicular joint abbreviated ac joint it's a synovial plane joint and this is really important because this is the strut joint where the clavicle articulates with the scapula and it allows you to move your arm up and down and the clavicle and scapula label to move that so your arm gets so much mobility the next structure is this one all along the back of this ridge of the posterior portion of the scapula and then adam said what did we call this spiny-like structure this spine all along the back of the scapula and they thought this is easy we'll just call it the spine or spine of the scapula and it's important because that spine of the scapula has the trapezius muscle that anchors to it to help give support to the scapula and move it as well as the deltoid that anchors to it that helps to move the humerus and in surface anatomy that's what the spine of the scapula looks like it's just kind of funny because out of all the pictures this is the one that i found it's pretty cool looking alright so there's the spine of the scapula next anatomy said well what do we call this fossa above the spine a fossa is a shallow concave surface so this fossa is on the back of the scapula but above the spine so they called it the supraspinous fossa literally meaning the the fossa superior to the spine and what about this one well this fossa is below the spine so they called it the infraspinous fossa the fossa below the spine and so there's the spine of the scapula and they said well here's a muscle that is in the super spinous fossa what do we call it i know the supraspinatus muscle well what do we call this muscle in the uh infraspinous fossa they called it the infraspinatus this is the benefit of being able to know the names of the bony landmarks because if you know bony landmarks it helps to get an idea of why muscles get their names so here in this anterior view of the scapula there's this socket on the side it's called a socket because it articulates with this ball the head of the humerus and they go like this they come together and they make a ball and socket joint so an anatomist then said well what do we call this structure this shallow smooth structure on the side of the scapula they said why don't we call it the socket well what socket in greek well it's glenoid so this is called the glenoid cavity but because it's not very deep it's more shallow they call it the glenoid fossa as well and glenoid fossa and cavity both go together now this tubercle that's above the glenoid cavity like what do we call that well it's called the tubercle above the glenoid cavity supraglenoid tubercle and a tubercle is a bony prominence for usually a muscle or ligament attachment and the supraglenoid tubercle articulates or attaches for the long head of the biceps brachii muscle right there and so what about this tubercle below the glenoid cavity well let's call it the tubercle below the glenoid cavity the infra glenoid tubercle and this is important because this is the landmark or this is the bony prominence where the long head of the triceps brachii muscle attaches what about this process a process is a bony landmark a bony sticky audi if you will what do we call this anatomy said you know what that kind of looks like a raven's beak or a crow's beak and what is that in greek it's coracoid so they call this the coracoid process and this coracoid process is important for muscle attachment in fact three muscles are pectoralis minor and short head of the biceps muscle and the coracobrachialis all have attachments to the coracoid process and in surface anatomy it's a good landmark to be able to palpate you find the clavicle and it's right below the lateral third so it's right there is where the coracoid process is in surface anatomy so now let's go to this notch well what do we call this notch well it's on the top of the scapula so why don't we call it the suprascapular notch so there it looks like in an anterior and there is the posterior anterior and posterior and on the suprascapular notch we have a ligament called the suprascapular ligament that goes across so you have the suprascapular artery that goes above the ligament and then through this newly formed foramen we have the suprascapular nerve there we have a posterior view and there's a lateral view posterior lateral posterior lateral and let's take that lateral view and blow it up and let's do a little quizzing shall we what do you call this border on the lateral side it's the lateral border well what do we call this fossa on the lateral surface that articulates with the head of the humerus so it's a socket so it's called the glenoid cavity or glenoid fossa well what about this bony sticky audi that looks like a crow's beak oh what was crow's beak oh that's right coracoid process well what about this surface the anterior surface it's a fossa and it touches the ribs subscapular fossa what about this bony prominence it's the highest part of the shoulder remember acropolis this is the acromion and what about this bony ridge it's a spine they call it the spine of the scapula and then this shallow concave surface above the spine supraspinous fossa and the shallow concave surface below infraspinous fossa and that my friend is the scapula in a nutshell [Music] do [Music] do [Applause] do do [Music]