Osteoarthritis of the shoulder is a common condition in the elderly leading to pain and functional disability. The person experiences difficulty in performing daily activities like combing hair or reaching out to overhead shelves. Invariably, pain occurs on movement and one is not able to sleep due to persistent pain. There might be crepitations, grating or popping sound felt in the affected joint. Muscle wasting occurs in long standing cases and range of movement continues to decrease, a condition called frozen shoulder occurs. This condition can occur in one or both the shoulders.

Besides osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, sports injury, post traumatic arthritis,rotator cuff arthropathy, infection, synovitis, collagen vascular disorder, rarely Lime’s disease or tumour might be the cause of shoulder pain.