Description: Eric Matteson, M.D., a rheumatologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., talks about polymyalgia rheumatic, an autoimmune disease that tends to affect women age 50 and older. The disease causes severe stiffness of the shoulders, hips and other parts of the body. Steroids, such as prednisone, can calm down the body's overactive immune system and enable patients to pursue normal activities.