alt.hn

2/18/2026 at 7:08:20 PM

99% of adults over 40 have shoulder "abnormalities" on an MRI, study finds

 https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/02/99-of-adults-over-40-have-shoulder-abnormalities-on-an-mri-study-finds/

by rbanffy

2/18/2026 at 7:48:50 PM

If 99% of adults have an abnormality, it ceases to be abnormal regardless of its effects

by mghackerlady

2/18/2026 at 8:54:07 PM

On the one hand, that's the point of the article. That it ceases to be a useful diagnostic indicator.

On the other hand, if there are 100 places in the shoulder where you can have an abnormality, and most people have just one or a couple but the other 98-99 are normal, then each one individually really is abnormal.

So it's complicated, and then it becomes important to figure out which abnormalities are medically relevant, in which combinations, etc.

by crazygringo

2/18/2026 at 7:56:16 PM

That's actually what the article points out. But I do think the language of normal vs abnormal obfuscates some of the intent. It's a 'deviation from healthy baseline' that they're talking about, and there are multiple such deviations in the grouped 'anomalies'.

From the article:

The language in particular should change given that “abnormalities” are ubiquitous—thus normal—and shouldn’t be described in terms that indicate a need for repair, like “tear.”

by Insanity

2/18/2026 at 9:09:08 PM

I went to a doctor for something unrelated and ended up getting an MRI that happened to show my upper spine. The neurologist read it and determined that I have a Chiari I malformation[0]. I have no symptoms from this whatsoever. I never have. It's unlikely that I ever will. If it weren't for the MRI, I'd never have known.

Doctors use to think that the degree of it that I have meant I'd have problems with it. After all, people who came in with the symptoms and then had an MRI or CT scan tended to show that level of herniation. Thus, it was assumed, that level of herniation was considered a diagnostic indicator. And then MRIs became cheaper and more accessible, and patients had them for all sorts of other reasons — like I did. Doctors discovered that the degree of "malformation" I have is very common among asymptomatic adults. In fact, you're many times more likely to be perfect fine with it than to experience symptoms.

Well, huh. That doesn't sound like much of a malformation anymore. Or at least, by itself it doesn't mean anything, other than that perhaps you're more likely to have problems than otherwise. On its own? It's more of a normal variation.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiari_malformation

by kstrauser

2/19/2026 at 8:54:18 AM

This is well known for spine issues in general: MRI is super unspecific, and the older you get, the more interesting things you can find on the scans. Even if you're fully asymptomatic. So such findings are now better reframed as age-related changed rather than pathologies. The fact that every radiologist will highlight different things also doesn't help.

This is in fact one reason why you don't want an MRI if the outcome does not change what you do (i.e. sports related injuries or non specific low back pain). You will just nocebo yourself into thinking you have problems that are not real, because the belief in the answer donut is so strong.

by oarfish

2/19/2026 at 4:17:50 PM

That makes perfect sense to me.

One nit: this happened to me maybe 20 years ago. It wasn’t even an age-related change. I think it was more like a changing idea of the range of normal human anatomy.

by kstrauser

2/18/2026 at 8:06:21 PM

99% of adults have abnormal faces, they all look different!

by amelius

2/18/2026 at 8:15:42 PM

Ok, in that case it's safe to say that the normal is highly variant but generally follows a pattern. People generally have a nose in the center of their face so that'd be normal, but one on the forehead would be abnormal unless everyone suddenly also had forehead noses

by mghackerlady

2/18/2026 at 8:35:24 PM

Relevant history from the US Airforce in the 1940s when they tried to build a cockpit for the average pilot and failed

I find this an interesting take on the story

https://polkas.github.io/posts/cursedim/

by iso1631

2/18/2026 at 8:59:46 PM

This is also a good argument why "opinionated" designs like from Apple are a bad idea. The average user does not exist. Stop trying to turn us into one!

by amelius

2/18/2026 at 9:21:45 PM

I have used an iPhone for 8 years and a macbook for 2 years. Every year the experience gets worse, like on schedule. This theory might explain what is happening!

by Swenrekcah

2/18/2026 at 9:41:26 PM

Same with Windows; that's why I switched to Linux.

by binkHN

2/18/2026 at 9:49:26 PM

That’s different. Deciding you’re building a tool for a specific use-case is not related to “average users”.

Tool companies manufacture claw hammers despite some people wanting a nail gun. You don’t try to make a thing flexible enough to be both a nail gun and a hammer.

I’m a power user and I do all of my customization on my Linux desktop/laptop. I use an iPhone specifically because it’s locked down and don’t want a keyboard that has gone through no code review stealing all of my banking credentials.

by kortilla

2/19/2026 at 4:23:17 AM

From the article, it seems like even if we only consider one dimension, there'd be ~70% of pilots that are uncomfortable. I'd have thought to at least cover 1 standard deviation, thus covering 68% of "average" pilots. But with 10 dimension it'd still only cover measly 2% of them. If we go to 2 std (95%), the 10-power would be ~60%. Quite small but seems acceptable if the initial target is only ~30% of pilots.

But of course this assume all variables are independent. Seems like we could actually push the tolerance much lower than this raw math would suggest.

by mcmoor

2/18/2026 at 8:48:38 PM

I would hate to be one of the ~80 million people in the world who have identical faces

by jaccola

2/18/2026 at 8:09:31 PM

Except that one guy.

by leni536

2/18/2026 at 8:21:44 PM

Everyone is abnormal compared to yourself.

by newsclues

2/18/2026 at 8:26:26 PM

Dude I know exactly who you're talking about, that guy without a unique face! Weird as hell that he's the only one...

by pinkmuffinere

2/18/2026 at 7:59:58 PM

Right, it's clearly aging related deterioration. It's like saying facial wrinkles are an abnormality.

by brandall10

2/18/2026 at 8:17:03 PM

I think the conclusion they're eluding to in the article is that: "if MRI says 99% of people have abnormalities, MRI is not trustworthy".

by dijit

2/18/2026 at 9:30:21 PM

Not "MRI is not trustworthy" but "abnormalities are not harmful". ("Allude", by the way; to "elude" is to escape.)

by Smaug123

2/18/2026 at 10:08:10 PM

oof, thanks for the grammar fix!

by dijit

2/19/2026 at 2:28:26 AM

A majority of humans will eventually contract the herpes virus sooner or later and they will stay infected until they die. Does this make herpes normal? Maybe. Does this make herpes something we should stop worrying about? Probably not.

by pibaker

2/18/2026 at 8:03:59 PM

Yes in one sense, but it also points to the insufficency of "normalness". See also: The Average Soldier.

by diydsp

2/18/2026 at 8:13:52 PM

There’s a famous case study in design about the Average Pilot - they were making airplanes than nobody could fly well because nobody was average enough in all physical dimensions to be comfortable in the aircraft. They had to design for ranges that the equipment could adjust through.

Even then when I was a kid I knew a guy who wanted to join the air force and he had a growth spurt that made him too tall.

by hinkley

2/18/2026 at 8:30:10 PM

More of the history of "avenge pilots" here: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/on-average/

by alistairSH

2/18/2026 at 10:05:02 PM

> Daniels realized that none of the pilots he measured was average on all ten dimensions. Not a single one. When he looked at just three dimensions, less than five percent were average. Daniels realized that by designing something for an average pilot, it was literally designed to fit nobody.

by hinkley

2/18/2026 at 7:52:15 PM

only if the abnormality is in the same spot

by francisofascii

2/18/2026 at 7:53:22 PM

"1% of adults over 40 have abnormally normal shoulders"

But seriously, the article addressed that

> The authors argue that the findings suggest clinicians should rethink MRI findings, changing not just how they’re used, but also how they’re explained to patients. The language in particular should change given that “abnormalities” are ubiquitous—thus normal—and shouldn’t be described in terms that indicate a need for repair, like “tear.”

by ASalazarMX

2/19/2026 at 2:15:54 AM

1% are suffering from a normality ;)

by ahartmetz

2/18/2026 at 8:19:53 PM

Abnominal (not abdominal)

by CGMthrowaway

2/19/2026 at 3:21:08 AM

If a town existed where 80% of the population had their arm become infected and fall off would you consider it normal ?

You're treating it like a behavior where normal is defined by the majority. Human anatomy and function is what you should compare to

by Braxton1980

2/18/2026 at 11:21:28 PM

no it doesn’t. not at all. “abnormality” is a measure vs. the median… what else could “abnormal” possibly even mean? how could anyone ever be abnormal in any way otherwise, given the number of possible avenues of abnormality in the universe? this logic can only even “play ball” with a singular “is this person abnormal or not?” boolean… if there existed even two axes of abnormality then by your folksy definition it cannot actually exist. QED.

by keeganpoppen

2/18/2026 at 9:35:02 PM

If you ignore the time dimension, sure.

But if 99% of adults today have an abnormality that 99% of adults historically didn't, it's abnormal.

by pengaru

2/18/2026 at 9:27:42 PM

It's a poor term but it's talking about a healthy baseline for any human as far as I'm aware. It's not adjusted for expected deterioration due to age. 100% of organs eventually fail if given enough time, but it's still fine to call the resulting failed organ a defect.

Presumably, some of this is just it's pretty damn inevitable you're going to accumulate at least some level of detectable injury that doesn't completely heal over the course of 40 years. I needed shoulder reconstruction because I fell off a skateboard trying to bomb a hill a year and a half ago and it's healed to the point there isn't any functional impairment, but given there's metal in there now, it's obviously going to look abnormal on an image. There's just an impedance mismatch here between what imaging finds and what people actually care about. Any detectable deviation from expected tissue configuration is going to show up and get reported, but there is no reason for a patient to give a shit. Functional impairment and/or pain is what they care about, though those are both also universal if you live long enough. No 90 year-old walks without a limp but it's still completely fair to call a limp an "abnormal" gait.

by nonameiguess

2/18/2026 at 8:29:07 PM

Not if they are all different and produce negative effects

by kingkawn

2/18/2026 at 8:01:58 PM

Dunno man. When enough people overweight, 1-2 alcoholic drink become healthy (alcohol is a blood thinner): this happened, but as we know now it's not true.

by cies

2/18/2026 at 9:30:30 PM

Alcohol also reduces awareness of heart attacks.

https://theonion.com/report-aspirin-taken-daily-with-bottle-...

by mjhay

2/19/2026 at 9:12:31 AM

Your claim may or may not be true, but "The Onion" has been satire/joke news since 1988.

by croon

2/19/2026 at 8:33:03 PM

wow, egg on my face!

by mjhay

2/18/2026 at 8:07:12 PM

> alcohol is a blood thinner

Source?

by Qem

2/18/2026 at 8:16:19 PM

Alcohol reduces clotting factors in the blood. This is known.

Doctors mostly tell you not to drink because it’ll fuck with the anesthesia math and bad anesthesia doses can kill you just as dead as a surgical mistake and probably moreso. But it’ll also make you bleed more.

If you need courage to show up to surgery they’ll give you a prescription for a single dose of a benzo. Which is better than liquid courage anyway.

by hinkley

2/18/2026 at 9:39:39 PM

A patient being drunk wouldn’t make it any harder for me to anaesthetise them. But if they’re drunk they wouldn’t legally be able to confirm they consent to the anaesthetic immediately prior.

by thomasfedb

2/18/2026 at 10:10:12 PM

Given the multiplicative effect of sedatives and depressants, do you have to factor in inebriation, for instance for a DUI in the ER? Or are the safety margins sufficient?

by hinkley

2/19/2026 at 4:06:35 AM

Generally additive, not multiplicative, and we are used to it. “Titrate to effect” is pretty standard in anesthesia, and we are watching you far more closely than average. Continuous monitoring of oxygenation, breathing, and cardiac rhythm, with no more than 5 minutes between blood pressure readings.

by devilbunny

2/18/2026 at 11:05:57 PM

Can you not consent to have something done to you while drunk, while you're sober beforehand? I mean you can sign beforehand to have surgery performed while you're knocked out, that's a bit more inebriated than most sorts of drunk.

by mothballed

2/19/2026 at 2:01:08 AM

average ≠ normal

by hnkgnn

2/18/2026 at 9:04:57 PM

if they all have the same abnormality yeah but if they all have different abnormalities then they're still abnormalities.

by ratelimitsteve

2/18/2026 at 10:53:12 PM

[dead]

by NedF

2/18/2026 at 9:12:21 PM

Best thing a doctor ever told me was "you CAN get imaging done, but I'd like to warn you that there is a near-certainty we'd find something wrong with your shoulder and your back".

by kylestlb

2/18/2026 at 9:36:20 PM

got a similar advice ... "in your age we find almost every time something abnormal"

by frankzander

2/18/2026 at 9:43:42 PM

[dead]

by hxbdg

2/18/2026 at 8:17:06 PM

Given that most commenters do not seem to have read the article perhaps the headline could be more explicit about 'MRIs find "abnormalities" but they seem to have no relationship to actual health problems"

by laurex

2/18/2026 at 7:31:33 PM

Who's the freak without an abnormality?

by kbelder

2/18/2026 at 8:04:35 PM

Im guessing certain gym rats who also dont desk/computer work?

by diydsp

2/18/2026 at 8:26:01 PM

I would strongly bet against gym rats not having some shoulder abnormality. If anything, I'd expect them to have more issues with their tendons and ligaments.

by elzbardico

2/18/2026 at 9:20:13 PM

I'd bet they probably have some abnormality too, but I don't think I'd expect them to have more issues. There's a lot talked about people getting injured in the gym, but people get injured a lot outside the gym, just for some reason people really fixate on in the gym injuries.

There's lots of research that indicates that frequent strength training significantly reduces your risk of injury in day to day activities, especially later in life. If I can deadlift 500 pounds, I'm not going to get injured lifting 100 pounds, but your general population could. If I've got 3 inches of muscle around my hips and increased bone density from resistance training, I'm not going to break my hip when I trip.

"Strong people are harder to kill" -Mark Rippetoe

by malfist

2/18/2026 at 9:47:32 PM

Training reduces your risk of injury as long as you don't overtrain. Overtraining increases your risk of injury, but the injuries you sustain are training-related. For example you can really mess up your knees by running more than your body can handle or by running without warming up and stretching first. But the kind of injury you get is different from messing your knees up by falling over.

by throwway120385

2/18/2026 at 9:00:05 PM

yeah. and joints, especially. I lost some wrist mobility during my boxing years and it never came back, even though I was in my early 20's when I had quit.

by b65e8bee43c2ed0

2/18/2026 at 11:50:57 PM

I mean, boxing is, by design, much more violent and higher impact than most other gym exercises.

by tomjakubowski

2/18/2026 at 9:12:14 PM

Why didn’t you wrap up

by deadbabe

2/18/2026 at 9:24:52 PM

wraps won't save your knuckles/wrists/elbows from the damage caused by repeated high-force impacts, and the cartilage only has to heal wrong once for a lifetime of mild discomfort.

by b65e8bee43c2ed0

2/18/2026 at 8:05:32 PM

More likely someone who's been in a coma for the last ten years.

by laughing_man

2/18/2026 at 9:49:03 PM

They'd probably have to specifically focus on mobility and flexibility as well. You really need both of those in conjunction with enough strength.

by pesus

2/18/2026 at 9:30:36 PM

Gymnasts are known to have very worn out shoulders which can be seen in scans. Eg at ~25yo they have shoulders of a ~40 to 50 year old person.

by NotGMan

2/18/2026 at 8:09:42 PM

Oh hey it's me, I'm the conformist. Stop picking on me.

by bogzz

2/18/2026 at 9:12:47 PM

Steph Curry

by kylestlb

2/18/2026 at 9:17:58 PM

He’s getting old, but not over 40 yet.

by skizm

2/18/2026 at 8:51:49 PM

A statistical error. All humans are slightly asymmetrical. Most shoulder problems begin at foot and/or hip though.

by int27h-tsr

2/18/2026 at 9:17:19 PM

My labrum was torn from multiple shoulder dislocations. I don't think that began at my foot or hip.

by malfist

2/18/2026 at 7:53:12 PM

Most of my shoulder issues are sleep related since I sleep on my side. Getting a body pillow system, was costly but kinda worth it. Helps with shoulder and GERD. Only issue is that it's kinda warm and I like to sleep cool.

by racl101

2/18/2026 at 8:06:16 PM

Any recommendations? I have GERD and generally sleep on my back, which helps but isn't perfect.

by dralley

2/19/2026 at 7:59:57 PM

MedCline relief system. It's like a plastic casing with a specific pillow for wedging your arm underneath a hole but also sleeping on an incline and a body pillow to wrap your other arm or your leg around so it's not so rough on your hips too. It's kinda weird sounding ... but it works.

And yes, try not to eat right before bed. Especially greasy food.

by racl101

2/18/2026 at 9:05:57 PM

You can try raising the head part of the bed by 5 - 6 or so inches using wood blocks. The doctor recommended it to me.

It's not perfect, but has really helped me!

by lordofgibbons

2/18/2026 at 9:29:40 PM

Same here, it helped a lot. Also don't eat a big meal and go straight to bed. Aim for an earlier dinner.

by redact207

2/18/2026 at 7:59:46 PM

The issue with those inclined pillows with the arm hole in them is that they can be a really hard angle for a side sleeper to be at. It makes my back and hips hurt way worse than my shoulder.

by mgiampapa

2/19/2026 at 12:55:15 AM

i recommend a bedjet. got it for the wife and it’s rough to sleep without it now.

by nickthegreek

2/18/2026 at 8:27:05 PM

Cervical radiculopathy can cause shoulder pain. I have experienced this quite a bit and it's probably also because of my sleeping style. I wouldn't get an MRI unless I was planning to have surgery.

by cactusplant7374

2/19/2026 at 8:15:41 AM

Wouldn’t the MRI decide if surgery would be beneficial?

by lostlogin

2/19/2026 at 2:28:35 PM

So many other factors and physical therapy is required for insurance approval anyway.

by cactusplant7374

2/18/2026 at 7:54:56 PM

> was costly but kinda worth it

This doesn't inspire confidence, but I guess any improvement that mitigates pain is nice.

by ASalazarMX

2/19/2026 at 10:56:29 AM

Didn't they find something similar for herniated disc a while back? Meaning they were treating people for herniated discs with back pain and then eventually figured out that lots of people with no pain also had herniated discs?

by KevinMS

2/19/2026 at 12:59:10 AM

I’m over 40. Barely. But, over 40 nonetheless.

I grew up in front of a PC as early as 6. I used it for everything. I grew up with it, on the internet as it was blossoming, and escaped through it as a means to escape reality, bullying, abusive household… you name it, from early Heat.net/mplay.net days, early mIRC CS alpha/beta/1.6 days, ICQ, MSN, VBasic coding, learning C/C++, to just about doing everything on a computer. Hell, I'm in the career I'm in because of it.

I escaped and escaped hard. If I couldn’t access it at home, I’d bike to the library and access it, or joined the computer club in HS just so I had another one I could easily hop on. All hours of the day, you name it. I even bumped into some wild early AOL Chat Room days that I'm pretty sure were some kind of a ring, but I digress.

I remember over the years comments like, “you look like you watch too much TV”. I barely watched TV. Or, “why are your shoulders always raised?”. I always said I'm carrying a heavy backpack with all my books. Or, “what’s wrong with your right neck?”, or “why are you corkscrewing to the left”. You name it. I just shrugged it off.

As the years went on, my jaw started to hurt, my right rotator cuff would crack all the time, my right ab snapped, my obliques weakened, my right hips started to fail, I don’t think I have a right scapula at this point, my molars no longer touched, my head jetted forward, my tongue tied, my lower jaw went to the left, my breathing worsened, it became shallow and short, my right-diaphragm hurts to inhale… I always blamed it on poor genetics, or something else, or "some accident I guess I don't remember".

It wasn’t until I hit 39 when it all kind of clicked.

It’s years of using a god damn mouse. Forward, right, back, left, circle motions, rinse and repeat, 12+ hours a day. In fact, even to this day I'm unable to use a mouse for more than 5 hours a day before the flares start. It's a numb pain. A 3/10 discomfort, but it's chronic.

I’m unable to sleep more than 4 hours a day without waking up with excruciating pain down my right shoulder and neck, unable to feel a large part of my right side, and the pain is getting worse by the day.

Ive done PT, chiro, acupuncture, personal trainer, you name it. THOUSANDS of dollars to no avail. In fact, I tried to do the 2000 pushup challenge for February (maybe a Canadian thing?) and I had to stop after 10 days due to INSANE right-shoulder flare-up.

Where’m I going with this?

Log off people. Stretch. Do exercise. Something before it’s too late.

I’m pretty sure we’re going to see more and more of “millennial” style abuse and neglect rear its ugly head.

by a1ff00

2/19/2026 at 8:20:16 AM

Some years ago, I also started to have problems due to mouse use.

I experimented with alternative pointing devices. For a few years I have used trackballs. The change from mouse to trackball was good, but that still was not an optimum pointing device.

Eventually I have settled on replacing mice with small graphic tablets (Wacom Intuos S), configured in the "Relative" mode, instead of their default "Absolute" mode. The tablet is not bigger than a traditional mouse pad, so it does not take more space on the desk.

In this mode the tablets behave exactly like mice, but they are much more comfortable and also faster and more accurate. The comfort is due to the fact that you hold the extremely light stylus in a natural hand position and moving it to reach any point on the screen is instantaneous and effortless (even when only the fingers are used, without moving the hand). Moreover, touching the tablet instead of left click is also a more natural motion. The stylus is so light that I can also touch-type while keeping it between fingers, which speeds up the transitions between keyboard and pointing device, in comparison with a mouse that must be grabbed first.

Thus all my hand and arm problems have disappeared, regardless how many hours per day I use the pointing device.

by adrian_b

2/19/2026 at 1:22:27 PM

Thank you. I’m going to look into this! Any recommendations?

I’m currently on a split keyboard, and mouseless (mouseless.click) evironment at home. It affords me hours before the pain catches up.

The issue right now is work. 8 hours a day on archaic input devices, but if I can bring in a literal mouse replacement, then I’m in the clear!

by a1ff00

2/19/2026 at 6:34:41 PM

Just stating the obvious that there's an entire culture around replacing mice by keyboards, starting with a Vim mode in most apps.

by konfekt

2/19/2026 at 2:55:19 PM

I think there's another dimension to this, which is the toxic home life which led to these behaviors. Good luck unpacking this all and getting healthier.

by joncrane

2/18/2026 at 9:12:20 PM

Closely related to a huge problem in American health care --- overprescription, particularly of surgical procedure. There's evidence that some widespread classes of surgical intervention --- shoulder "impingement" in particular --- have outcomes no better than placebos in controlled trials where people literally get placebo incisions.

by tptacek

2/18/2026 at 8:22:19 PM

Do they define if this relates to anything noticeable in your day to day?

For example, I can put my right hand above my shoulder and left hand near my lower back and easily connect both hands behind my back with fully interlocked fingers by converging in the middle. They reach to the other hand's palm.

But I can only barely touch my fingers with both hands if I switch it up so my left hand is up top.

I have no pain or day to day mobility issues but something is lopsided. Is that what they consider abnormal?

by nickjj

2/18/2026 at 8:55:49 PM

Limited range of motion on one side could cause some deviations in scapulohumeral rhythm, so your force application won't be optimal and may cause injuries, or even cause uneveness and side effects in gait cycle. And with time it tends to get worse since the body would be trying to adopt to execute the function. But suboptimal force application eventually would cause joint injuries if a convex (humerus) is rolling without gliding or vice versa or doing it in suboptimal rhythm.

That's my personal take, not a doctor, study kinesiology as a hobby.

All such minor mobility issues could be addressed by body conditioning excercises including simple isolated mobility drills to learn range of motion of joints.

by zihotki

2/18/2026 at 8:54:29 PM

I'd consider it abnormal that you can do that; I can't get my fingertips within a foot of each other doing that.

I'm nearly 60 but I don't know if I could ever do that. You have good mobility IMO.

by SoftTalker

2/18/2026 at 7:56:14 PM

I have three kids and they've messed up my dominant schoulder (left).

by radicalbyte

2/18/2026 at 8:36:15 PM

I have three dogs and they’ve messed up my dominant shoulder, back and leg

by darth_avocado

2/18/2026 at 8:00:28 PM

From walking around holding them with your left arm when they were babies, or from something else?

by p00dles

2/18/2026 at 8:39:10 PM

Walking/carrying at all crazy hours once they were >30kg. Holding 40kg of sick kid around is fun. Ours all refused to sit in the stroller very early which is what made it so much worse (our oldest was two, the other two refused point blank the second they could walk).

by radicalbyte

2/18/2026 at 8:31:36 PM

not OP but - walking, carrying, holding, being pulled in random directions, catching kids when they jump at you from unexpected places, kids using your arms to practice tug-of-war/rock-climbing, pushing (empty) stroller with one hand, and carrying kid with other....

by dhaivat

2/18/2026 at 7:59:05 PM

I don't know what causes it, but even without major issues I think a lot of people continually loose range of motion in the shoulder as they age. So this doesn't surprise me.

by Glyptodon

2/19/2026 at 8:58:32 AM

Most people don't exercise to preserve muscle mass and function and especially don't do full range of motion resistance training, most of this is probably preventable.

by oarfish

2/18/2026 at 9:23:08 PM

I have a giant metal plate in mine which I guess is kindof abnormal.

by tracerbulletx

2/18/2026 at 8:54:09 PM

Interesting. What happens at 40 to make MRIs no longer accurate?

by garbawarb

2/18/2026 at 9:21:50 PM

Why do you think it's inaccurate?

by azan_

2/18/2026 at 8:08:32 PM

What about the other 1%? I feel for them.

by baxtr

2/18/2026 at 8:46:59 PM

Just hit my mid twenties. Want to say I started having some shoulder issues around 20 years old. Although correlation =! causation, I largely think this is because of my lifelong computer usage and PC gaming. It doesn't bother me all the time, but every few months something will change up and it comes back. Surprisingly, my wrists and hands are completely fine, no carpal tunnel or anything similar.

by 0x1ch

2/18/2026 at 8:52:32 PM

Yes, sitting slightly hunched up with your hands in front of you on a keyboard for 8-10 hours a day will screw up your shoulder mobility over time.

by SoftTalker

2/18/2026 at 11:27:59 PM

I think using a standing desk has really helped. I don't use mine at work often, but I generally am standing when I'm at home and it really does feel like it has improved my shoulder issues and posture.

by 0x1ch

2/18/2026 at 8:46:30 PM

Evolution never really bothered with the wellbeing of 40+ year olds.

by lysace

2/18/2026 at 9:17:06 PM

Oddly enough, I think now it will. Because there is a whole generation of people having kids later, some first time parents even in their 40s. Naturally this should mean they produce offspring that over time is also able to easily reproduce in their 40s. Teen pregnancy is way down, and late pregnancies are replacing it.

by deadbabe

2/18/2026 at 9:46:40 PM

Evolution typically happens on the scale of a million years, not a couple generations of human behavior.

by smithcoin

2/19/2026 at 1:24:46 PM

You can speed it up.

by deadbabe

2/19/2026 at 1:02:45 AM

It's much the same with degenerative changes in the spine. Almost every adult will have such changes and they do not seem to correlate with symptoms. Everyone's back is screwed up and only some people get back pain, and only sometimes in the same areas as the screwed up areas.

by eudamoniac

2/19/2026 at 8:59:57 AM

> Everyone's back is screwed up

its bad framing to label this as "degenerative" and "screwed up" as nowadays we learn that there are probably more age-related. As you say, they correlate very poorly with pain.

by oarfish

2/18/2026 at 8:26:41 PM

Reading this title made me sit up in my chair.

by daringrain32781

2/18/2026 at 7:34:15 PM

Even though they never have any neck pain, many shoulder issues are actually caused by pinched nerves in the cervical spine.

by tiahura

2/18/2026 at 8:45:56 PM

100% of all things that do not asexually reproduce are mutants

by downrightmike

2/18/2026 at 9:46:24 PM

[dead]

by sproketboy

2/18/2026 at 8:11:20 PM

[flagged]

by TacticalCoder

2/18/2026 at 7:30:24 PM

You call it "abnormality", I call it evolution. We are not the same.

by Flavius

2/18/2026 at 7:46:13 PM

How many generations of constant bent over posture staring at a device before that's just built into the species?

by dylan604

2/18/2026 at 7:48:26 PM

Im not sure people with bad posture get more offspring than others. :)

by plufz

2/18/2026 at 8:00:48 PM

The pickins are getting slim though. I don't know anyone in their 20s that doesn't sit hunched over staring at a screen for a large portion of their day while stipulating I don't know any where near all 20 somethings. Just one person's observations

by dylan604

2/18/2026 at 8:01:38 PM

If I learned anything at Buy N Large University, AR screens in eyeware may be huge.

by mgiampapa