Fascia: The Endless Web

"Like the chin strap, the next strap - the collar strap (Fig. 15-1) - is that of great importance to singers, whether opera or shower singers. It involves primarily the base of the throat, the upper tip of the lungs, and the upper margin of the shoulders. When this strap is very tight, its most striking feature is a tightness underneath the Adam's apple where the two clavicles (collarbones) meet the sternum (breastbone). The most common result is compression around the base of the neck. The collarbones are tightly glued down to the upper ribs in front and tightly held to the upper margins of the shoulder blades (scapulae) in the back. Deep hollows at the base of the neck, just behind the collarbones, are evidence of tension when this trap has become too tight.

In front, the strap seems to enclose the whole length of the collarbone as well as the two uppermost ribs. It includes a small muscle called the subclavius. This connects the middle section of each collarbone to the first and second ribs and continues as ligaments to the sternum and coracoid process, medially and laterally, respectively, this small muscle is active in respiration when the collarbone moves in relation to the ribs. When the fascial covering of the muscle is thickened, the subclavius is immobilized between the two bones." (The Endless Web: Fascial Anatomy and Physical Reality by R. Louis Schultz PhD and Rosemary Feitis, DO, 1996, p. 73)