Acromioclavicular arthritis: A review

Acromioclavicular arthritis is one of the most common causes of pain around the shoulder joint in middle-aged and elderly population. It is because of early degeneration of the articular cartilage and disc. The disease usually remains asymptomatic, and it presents as an incidental finding on shoulder X-Ray or Magnetic resonance imaging. It can be due to primary degenerative, inflammatory, traumatic and infective arthritis. The patient may also come with the atypical location of pain like in cervical or over deltoid muscle. A thorough understanding of its anatomy, biomechanics, history and physical examination of the patient is necessary for management of this condition. Treatment options include lifestyle modification, a short course of chemotherapy, muscle strengthening, physiotherapy or local intraarticular injection of steroid. After six months of conservative treatment if the patient still has pain then operative treatment is advisable in the form of open or arthroscopic distal clavicular resection.