Basic Movement Patterns

Basic movement patterns are the most common way to describe how joints of the human body move. The basic movement patterns on this page explain the movement of individual joints in isolation. These are valuable to describe how joints are moving in space, but alone they are not always helpful to understand specific muscular action.

Planes of motion

To describe basic movement patterns, we divide human anatomy into three planes of motion. These planes of motion dictate the specific patterns in which your body can move beginning from a standard, neutral body position we call anatomical position. From anatomical position, these three planes each divide your body into two parts (left and right, front and back, or upper and lower).

Joints can only move in two directions within an individual plane of motion. Thus, these three movement planes allow six individual joint actions.* Some of these joint actions can be combined—crossing multiple plane lines—to create one additional movement from anatomical position. Furthermore, when your body moves from a reference position outside of anatomical position, there are additional joint movements.

Anatomical position

Before you can understand planes of motion and basic movement patterns, you need to first understand the neutral starting position described simply as anatomical position. In anatomical position, the arms and legs are held straight, the feet and palms of the hands face forwards, and the trunk, neck, and head are upright and neutral. The three planes of motion in anatomical position are sagittal plane, frontal plane, and transverse plane.

Sagittal plane

The sagittal plane splits your body into left and right parts. In this plane, your body can only move forwards and backwards along the plane line (e.g., your arms and legs swinging while walking). In the sagittal plane of motion, the basic movement patterns are called flexion and extension.

Flexion

Flexion is the closing of a joint angle within the sagittal plane. A common exercise example is the biceps curl which causes flexion of the elbow joint. In the example of biceps curls, your elbow begins straight at your side—a joint angle of ~180 degrees. As your raise the weight, your elbow joint angle decreases. At the top of this exercise, the elbow joint angle is less than 90 degrees.

Common exercise examples that utilize flexion of a joint. The joint actions listed below are caused by concentric contraction of the listed muscle:

Extension

Extension is the opening a joint angle within the sagittal plane. A common exercise example is the triceps push-down which causes extension of the elbow joint. In the example of triceps push-downs, your elbow begins in flexion—a joint angle of less than 90 degrees. As you press the handle downwards, your elbow joint angle increases. At the bottom of this exercise, the elbow joint angle is ~180 degrees.

Common exercise examples that utilize extension of a joint. The joint actions listed below are caused by concentric contraction of the listed muscle:

Frontal plane

The frontal plane splits your body into front and back parts. In this plane, your body can only move outwards and inwards—picture standing flush against a wall and only moving your body along the surface of the wall (e.g., arms and legs when performing jumping jacks). In the frontal plane of motion, the basic movement patterns are called abduction and adduction.

Abduction

Abduction is a movement that pulls a particular body part away from the midline of the body within the frontal plane. A common exercise example is the deltoid lateral raise which causes abduction of the shoulder joint.

In the example of a deltoid lateral raise, your shoulder begins in a neutral position and your arm hangs straight at your side—closer to the midline of your body. As your raise your arms out to the side, you are pulling your arms away from the midline of your body within the frontal plane.

Common exercise examples that utilize abduction of a joint. The joint actions listed below are caused by concentric contraction of the listed muscle:

Adduction

Adduction is a movement that pulls a particular body part towards the midline of the body within the frontal plane. Opposing the previous description, exercise examples include wide grip pull-ups or pull-downs which cause adduction of the shoulder joints.

In the example of wide grip pull-ups, your shoulders begin in abduction with your arms above your head—further away from the midline of your body. As you perform a wide grip pull-up, you are pulling your arms back towards the midline of your body within the frontal plane.

Common exercise examples that utilize adduction of a joint. The joint actions listed below are caused by concentric contraction of the listed muscle:

Lateral flexion

In the trunk (the spinal column), movements in the frontal plane are described as lateral flexion to either side as a deviation from neutral. This is simply bending side to side (e.g., tilting your head towards one of your shoulders or bending your body sideways). This term is used because abduction and adduction are movement patterns described in relation the midline of the body, and the spine is the midline of the body.

Transverse plane

The transverse plane splits your body into upper and lower parts. In this plane, your body can only rotate in either direction. In the transverse plane of motion, the basic movement patterns are called external rotation and internal rotation.

External rotation

External rotation is turning a joint away from the midline within the transverse plane. A common exercise example of external rotation is noted in rotator cuff warm-ups. With the elbow flexed to 90 degrees and pressed against the side of the body, external rotation of the shoulder is moving the entire forearm outwards.

Internal rotation

Internal rotation is turning a joint towards the midline within the transverse plane. A common exercise example of internal rotation is also noted in rotator cuff warm-ups. With the elbow flexed to 90 degrees and pressed against the side of the body, internal rotation of the shoulder is moving the entire forearm inwards—eventually being blocked by your forearm reaching your belly.

Spinal rotation

Since internal and external rotation rely on their movements in relation to the midline (the spine), rotation of the spine is simply defined as left rotation or right rotation to avoid confusion.

Left and right rotation are easier phrases to use, but technically, in the trunk and neck, external rotation is turning away from neutral (midline) in either direction since the midline is the reference point. Therefore, from a neutral starting position, you can externally rotate your trunk or neck both left and right.

Internal rotation in the trunk and neck means turning back towards neutral. Once you cross the midline during internal rotation, however, you are performing external rotation in the other direction. Thus, it is much simpler to use left and right rotation.

Additional movements

In addition to the six basic movement patterns from anatomical position, you can combine joint actions to create one additional movement pattern, or you can move from a starting position outside of anatomical position. The multi-plane movement is called circumduction, and the two additional movements that begin outside of anatomical position are called horizontal abduction and horizontal adduction.

Lastly, the basic movement patterns of the scapulae (shoulder blades) are described using their own nomenclature and are described below.

Circumduction

Circumduction combines movements from all three planes of motion described above. Simplified, circumduction is the circular motion of a joint. The most common examples include shoulder, hip, wrist, and ankle circles. Circumduction is not appropriate for any specific training exercise, but it is commonly and appropriately utilized during warm-ups for joints and muscles.

Horizontal abduction

Horizontal abduction does not follow the three planes of motion defined above and only occurs at the shoulders and hips. With your shoulders or hips starting at 90 degrees flexion, horizontal abduction pulls your arms or thighs outward. If your range of motion allows, this motion finishes at what would be described as 90 degrees of abduction, as seen in the frontal plane (see video below).

The two most common exercise examples of horizontal abduction include rear flies for the shoulders (posterior deltoid) or seated hip abduction for the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus.

Horizontal adduction

Like the previous movement, horizontal adduction also occurs outside the three planes of motion defined above and only occurs at the shoulder and hip joints. With your shoulders or hips starting in a position of abduction, horizontal adduction pulls your arms or thighs inward. Most often, this motion finishes around what would be described as 90 degrees of flexion, as seen in the sagittal plane (see video above).

The two most common exercise examples of horizontal adduction include pectoral flies for the chest (pectoralis major) or seated hip adduction for the hip adductor muscles.

Scapular movements

Lastly, there are movements that are specific to the scapulae (shoulder blades). While there are still six movements—similar to the basic movement patterns above—they don’t occur across the three planes of motion and are not described by changes in joint angles.

Each of your scapulae attach to the remainder of your skeleton via one true joint called the acromioclavicular joint (a bony projection on the scapula called the acromion attaches to the collar bone) located at the front portion of your shoulder. Interestingly, basic movement patterns of the scapulae do not exist through this joint.

Instead, the movement exists at the sternoclavicular joint where your breast bone, the sternum, attaches to your collar bone. Still, the movements of the scapulae are not described specific to this joint; rather, scapular movement is described by the apparent sliding/gliding over the posterior thorax.

Elevation and depression

Elevation is the “shrugging” of your shoulders. This movement occurs when the scapulae slide upwards against the posterior thorax. Depression is the action that opposes elevation. When standing upright and absent of external resistance, depression tends to happen naturally due to the force of gravity.

Protraction and retraction

Protraction is moving your scapulae outwards, away from each other and away from the spine. This action tends to happen during exercises such as bench press and pectoral flies. Retraction is pulling your scapulae inwards, back towards each other and towards the spine. This is the goal action for training muscles such as the rhomboids and middle/lower trapezius.

Upward rotation and downward rotation

Upward rotation occurs functionally to allow your arms to go overhead. The inferior portion of the shoulder blade swings outwards and upwards and the superior portion pulls inward and downwards. This motion can be viewed as the scapular equivalent of abduction, described above. This action occurs naturally when raising your arms out to the side, as in a lateral raise for the deltoids.

Downward rotation is the opposing action, pulling the scapulae back downwards to their neutral position; this can be viewed as the scapular equivalent of adduction, described above. This action would occur during a wide-grip pull-up or pull-down.