Rare diseases · Sign or symptom
Shoulder girdle muscle weakness
Weak shoulder muscles
HP:0003547
What it means
The shoulder, or pectoral, girdle is composed of the clavicles and the scapulae. Shoulder-girdle weakness refers to lack of strength of the muscles attaching to these bones, that is, lack of strength of the muscles around the shoulders.
Rare diseases that can present with this18
Common30–79%
9- Autosomal dominant progressive external ophthalmoplegia
- FKRP-related limb-girdle muscular dystrophy R9
- Glycogen storage disease with severe cardiomyopathy due to glycogenin deficiency
- GNE myopathy
- Miyoshi myopathy
- Myopathy and diabetes mellitus
- Neutral lipid storage disease with ichthyosis
- Postsynaptic congenital myasthenic syndrome
- Pure mitochondrial myopathy
Sometimes5–29%
5The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.
Part of the broader category
Also called: Muscle weakness, shoulder-girdle · Shoulder girdle weakness · Shoulder weakness
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Start free with EleplanThis page uses the Human Phenotype Ontology (2026-06-23) — Human Phenotype Ontology Consortium, hpo.jax.org. Disease associations from Orphanet (INSERM), CC BY 4.0. Content is educational and is not medical advice.