Muscles of the arm and shoulder

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The muscles of the arm and shoulder act on the shoulder and elbow joints, ensuring the mobility of the upper limb relative to the trunk. They are divided into the following groups:

• The muscles of the shoulder, specifically the scapulohumeral muscles, consist of the deltoid, teres major, and muscles of the rotator cuff (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis). All these muscles support movement and stabilization of the shoulder joint.
• The muscles of the arm are divided into anterior and posterior compartments. Depending on their bony attachments and line of pull, the muscles will serve either as flexors (anterior group) or extensors (posterior group) of the arm and/or forearm.

The following video tutorials will help you to learn the anatomy of the muscles of the arm and shoulder.

Take a quiz

Now that you learned all you need to know about the muscles of the arm and shoulder, check your knowledge by taking our quiz.

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Once you’re feeling confident, you can try labeling the structures yourself by filling in the blanks! For this you can simply download the free unlabeled arm and shoulder diagram PDF below. 

BLANK WORKSHEET (PDF)LABELED WORKSHEET (PDF)

Browse atlas

Revise everything that you have learned about these muscles by browsing through our atlas gallery:

Summary