Coracobrachialis Muscle Pain & Trigger Points

The coracobrachialis muscle can trigger pain at the front of your shoulder as well as at the back of your upper arm and forearm.

People that suffer from tightness, tender or trigger points in this muscle, usually also have problems with its synergists.

Those are the pectoralis major, the front part of the deltoid and the short head of the biceps brachii.

1. Pain Patterns & Symptoms

1.1 Pain patterns

If your coracobrachialis harbors trigger points, it can give you pain right at their location and send it to other, seemingly unrelated areas of your body.

In the pictures you can see that trigger points in the coracobrachialis can trigger pain that radiates down the backside of your arm to the back of your hand.

It might also be possible that you feel an ache at the side of your shoulder.

Less often the back of your shoulder will be painful.

It can be involved in the following symptoms.

The intensity of the colour indicates how common pain is experienced in those areas if trigger points are present.

The darker the red, the more common the pain is.

If you like to access all this info also offline, you can do so by downloading my eBook.

1.2 Symptoms & complaints

Scratching your back – the muscle has to contract to lift the arm – can be painful.

Also reaching back to get into your jacket might be painful as the muscle has to stretch in order not to inhibit the motion.

2. Attachment Points of the Coracobrachialis

The coracobrachialis originates from the coracoid process – the bony and peaky landmark at the front of your shoulder – and runs to the inner side of your humerus.

The X in the picture displays the area that is commonly afflicted with trigger points.

3. Function of the Coracobrachialis

It helps to lift the arm in front of you and to adduct it. In this manner it assists the pectoralis major (with adduction), deltoid and the biceps brachii (with elevation).

This muscle has the following functions

1

Shoulder flexion

2

Adduction

3

Neutralization of shoulder rotations

4. Trigger Point Activation of the Coracobrachialis Muscle

It is known that the coracobrachialis is overloaded especially with actions that also overwork the synergistic muscles that are listed above.

Trigger and tender points develop first in those muscles and then in the coracobrachialis.

Thus, excessive chest workouts or activities where you press your arm tightly towards your body – e.g. work on the rings in gymnastics – are a common source of trouble.

5. Palpation

1
coracobrachialis-massageort

Put your thumb between your biceps and triceps in your arm pit as high as you can.

2
coracobrachialis-massage

Then press the arm against your body. You should be able to feel the coracobrachialis contracting during that movement.

6. Coracobrachialis Muscle Self-massage

Once you palpated the muscle, place your thumb on it and search along its way for tender spots and massage them with care.

Be aware that you are working an area with lots of nerves. Make sure to stay on the muscle and be gentle, that in case you hit a nerve it is not that “harmful”.

References

  • Calais-German, Blandine. Anatomy of Movement. Seattle: Eastland Press, 1993. Print
  • Davies, Clair, and Davies, Amber. The Trigger Point Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide For Pain Relief. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications, Inc., Print
  • Simons, David G., Lois S. Simons, and Janet G. Travell. Travell & Simons’ Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual. Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins, 1999. Print.
  • Schünke, Michael., Schulte, Erik, and Schumacher, Udo. Prometheus: Lernatlas der Anatomie. Stuttgart/New York: Georg Thieme Verlag, 2007. Print