Action
Contraction of the supraspinatus muscle leads to abduction of the arm at the shoulder joint. It is the main agonist muscle for this movement during the first 10-15 degrees of its arc. Beyond 30 degrees the deltoid muscle becomes increasingly more effective at abducting the arm and becomes the main propagator of this action.
The supraspinatus muscle is one of the musculotendinous support structures called the rotator cuff that surround and enclose the shoulder. It helps to resist the inferior gravitational forces placed across the shoulder joint due to the downward pull from the weight of the upper limb.
The supraspinatus also helps to stabilize the shoulder joint by keeping the head of the humerus firmly pressed medially against the glenoid fossa of the scapula.
For USMLE step 1, know that the supraspinatus initiates abduction of the shoulder. Without a functioning supraspinatus, the physician must start abducting the patient's arm and eventually the patient will be able to finish abduction if the deltoid is functional, which is common because the supraspinatus is innervated by the suprascapular nerve from the superior/upper trunk of the brachial plexus. The deltoid is innervated more distally by the axillary nerve, which arises from the posterior cord of the brachial plexus.
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