What is a Shoulder Sprain?
A shoulder sprain is the stretching, twisting, or partial tearing of the ligaments of the shoulder joint. Ligaments are tough bands of connective fibrous tissue that join bones together to form a joint. A tear in the ligaments of any of the joints of the shoulder could result in a shoulder sprain. Contrary to what most people think, the shoulder joint is not formed from the upper arm bone, or humerus, and the shoulder blade, or scapula, alone. The shoulder is in fact constituted of three different joints: between the upper arm bone and the shoulder blade; the top of the shoulder blade, called the acromion, and the collar bone, or the clavicle; and between the collar bone and the breast bone, called the sternum. The joint of the humerus and the collar blade is the glenohumeral joint, which we commonly know as the shoulder joint. The joint composed of the upper portion of the shoulder blade and the collar bone, called the acromioclavicular joint, and that between the collar bone and the
