The Glenohumeral Joint: The Shoulder Joint

The Shoulder Joint The glenohumeral joint, or as it is more commonly referred to the shoulder joint , is one of the most flexible and unstable joints in the body. As a ball and socket joint the shoulder allows circular motion and hinge movement. The rounded head or ‘ball’ of the humerus rests in the shallow dish shaped cavity or ‘socket’ created by the glenoid fossa of the scapula. This allows for a wide range of motion around several axes.
There are two main bones that make up the shoulder joint, the humerus and the scapula. The ball of the humerus is stabilized and cushioned by cartilage around the glenoid fossa socket. Ligaments connect the bones together and tendons then connect those bones to surrounding muscles. For example, the