The shoulder girdle attaches each arm to the axial skeleton. But it holds on only loosely, by a single bony joint. That trade gives the shoulder its huge range of motion. The girdle is just two bones, the clavicle and the scapula. Tap to explore.
Clavicle
Pectoral girdleclavicle + scapula
The parts
💡 The clavicle is the only bony link between the arm and the axial skeleton, at the sternoclavicular joint. So the force of a fall on the arm passes through it. That is one reason it is among the bones most often fractured.
📷 Reference image
A real labeled figure to compare with the interactive above.
The Pectoral Girdle — OpenStax, CC BY 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
