If your shoulder hurts or feels stiff when you reach up to take an item from a shelf, you may have shoulder, or AC arthritis. This is arthritis that occurs in your acromioclavicular, or AC, joint. Your AC joint is between your collar bone, or clavicle, and a part of your shoulder blade called the acromion. Your other shoulder joint is the glenohumeral joint, which is located between your arm and shoulder blade. Arthritis can occur in either joint, but it’s more common in the AC joint.
Online Medical Reviewer: Foster, Sara, RN, MPH
Online Medical Reviewer: newMentor board-certified, academically affiliated clinician
Arthritis is a type of damage to a joint that can cause inflammation. AC arthritis affects the acromioclavicular (AC) joint. This joins the shoulder blade (scapula) and the collarbone (clavicle). AC arthritis is fairly common in older adults.
Shoulder pain can have many causes. Pain often comes from the structures that surround the shoulder joint. Pain can also come from cartilage in the joint.
