# What is your collarbone doing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2001, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-collarbone-doing/67584 "2001-06-04T22:48:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2001, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-collarbone-doing/67584/1 "2001-06-04T22:48:22Z")
Functionally, that is. In other words, what is the purpose of the collarbone? Does it serve a function or is it a vestige we owe to our ancestors who walked on all fours and brachiated in trees? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2001, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-collarbone-doing/67584/2 "2001-06-04T23:04:28Z")
I like to think of the collarbone as the shoulder’s flying buttress. But I’m like that. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2001, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-collarbone-doing/67584/3 "2001-06-04T23:13:25Z")
It keeps your shoulders away from your neck for one thing… ---
**Author:** ![dasceder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3d9bf3/32.png) [@dasceder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasceder)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2001, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-collarbone-doing/67584/4 "2001-06-04T23:18:30Z")
Mine has broken a few times, though I’m not sure I’d call that a function. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-collarbone-doing/67584/5 "2001-06-05T01:16:30Z")
It stabilizes the shoulder, and aids in abduction, and internal and external rotation. Among other movements. Without it, the shoulder would be even more likely to dislocate, and would not have the strength or range. Fuse the acromio-clavicular joint, and you get reduced motion also, but improved strength, or at least force, along certain axes. Qadgop, MD ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-collarbone-doing/67584/6 "2001-06-05T02:34:14Z")
It also provides a lovely adornment to the female form. One that does not decline with age. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-collarbone-doing/67584/7 "2001-06-05T02:40:06Z")
A friend of mine has a partially artificial collarbone (i.e., her left side is artificial, right is not). When she had her first surgery, she knew it had failed because her rib cage was sagging. And now the artificial one’s resonant frequency gets hit when she goes on car trips. Owwwch. So it also supports the rib cage. At least partially. ---
**Author:** ![choosybeggar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-collarbone-doing/67584/8 "2001-06-05T07:31:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\*It also provides a lovely adornment to the female form. One that does not decline with age. \*\* Bravo! I love collarbones. My nominee for best clavicles: Counselor Troy from Star Trek TNG. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-collarbone-doing/67584/9 "2001-06-05T09:11:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan \* > It stabilizes the shoulder You mean I was right? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-collarbone-doing/67584/10 "2001-06-06T01:28:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by choosybeggar \* > \*\*My nominee for best clavicles: Counselor Troy from Star Trek TNG. \*\* Indeed, [Marina Sirtis](http://members.tripod.com/~msirtis/04.jpg) is one _kalê Hellênikê gynê_. Dave Marinaccio, author of _All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Watching Star Trek_, accused TNG of dressing Deanna Troi in a [“boob uniform”](http://www.sirtis.co.uk/images/troi/sirtisdt029.jpg) to “reveal her [ample cleavage](http://www.sirtis.co.uk/images/troi/sirtisdt004.jpg).” But I would say that her [[http://www.sirtis.co.uk/images/troi/sirtisdt106.jpg](http://www.sirtis.co.uk/images/troi/sirtisdt106.jpg)"]_décolleté_ look was really designed to make the most of her [luscious clavicle](http://www.sirtis.co.uk/images/troi/sirtisdt057.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-collarbone-doing/67584/11 "2001-06-06T01:38:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bughunter \* > \*\*Functionally, that is. > > In other words, what is the purpose of the collarbone? Does it serve a function or is it a vestige we owe to our ancestors who walked on all fours and brachiated in trees? \*\* Actually, I think our 4-legged cousins don’t need it as much. In cats (housecats at least), it’s a floating bone, barely more than a half-toothpick-looking sliver. Therefore, cats’ front legs are attached to their torso only by tendons and/or ligaments - no bone-to-bone attachment. As an aside, my daughter broke her right collarbone _as she was being born_! How’s that for an early injury!?