Seventy patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) were seen at a suburban rheumatology practice from July 1983 to December 1987. Six of these patients presented without the typical limb girdle features associated with PMR. Presenting symptoms included peripheral synovitis or unilateral shoulder pain (3 patients), lower leg pain (3 patients), carpal tunnel syndrome (1 patient), and abdominal pain (1 patient). The disease evolved into the recognizable syndrome of PMR over a period of 2-12 months. We suggest that PMR may present in a variety of guises, or have a "stuttering evolution" to the full syndrome. The presenting manifestations of these atypical cases result from peripheral synovitis and thus represent a variant of the more common subclinical proximal synovitis seen in PMR. Increased clinical awareness of atypical presentations may assist earlier diagnosis and effective treatment.