Muscle Monday 2: Pectoralis Minor

For last week’s Muscle Monday - and our first ever - we talked about pectoralis major.

Pec major tends to get all the attention, but pec minor needs some love too and a lot of people don’t even know it exists! It sits underneath pec major and is mainly responsible for movements of the scapula (shoulder blade).

Like pec major, this muscle can become shortened and tight from a hunched over posture and by overcompensating for a weak serratus anterior, which we’ll get into next Monday.

What does this mean for you? Posturally, a tight pec minor can result in what is referred to as “winged” scapulae. It could also limit flexion of the shoulder, meaning it would be more difficult to raise your arms in front of you and over your head.

A tight pec minor, when severe enough, could lead to a condition called thoracic outlet syndrome, or TOS. This is when nerves and/or blood vessels get compressed either by pec minor, the scalene muscles (more on those in future posts), or between your first rib and clavicle. Symptoms of TOS include numbness and/or tingling down your arm, into your pinky and ring finger. Sometimes it can make your arms feel heavy, too. There are a number of orthopedic assessments that can be done to find which structure is causing the issue, and what needs to be done to improve it. In the case of pec minor and the scalenes, massage and stretching can do a lot to help and get you feeling better quickly.

Do you ever get numbness and tingling in one or both arms? Or maybe you have winged scapulae and don’t like how it looks. Book an appointment today to get it looked at and let me devise a personalized treatment plan for you.

See you next Monday! I will be talking about serratus anterior and how it factors in with pec minor and other structures and activities. If you’re enjoying the content I provide here, please feel free to drop a comment and let me know, and if you have any questions or requests I would be happy to help!