Bursitis
Overuse and stress. You may commonly subject your body's
joints to these conditions when you're at work and at play. The eventual result of
repetitive movements and pressure may be a painful inflammation called bursitis.
You have more than 150 bursae in your body. These often tiny, fluid-containing sacs
lubricate and cushion pressure points between your bones and the tendons and muscles near
your joints. They help you move without pain. When they become inflamed, movement or
pressure is painful.
Most often bursitis affects the shoulder, elbow or hip joint areas. But you can also
have bursitis by your knee, heel and even in the base of your big toe. Bursitis pain
usually goes away within a week or so with proper treatment, but recurrent flare-ups are
common and frustrating.
Causes of Bursitis
Overuse and stress. You may commonly subject your body's joints to these conditions
when you're at work and at play. The eventual result of repetitive movements and pressure
may be a painful inflammation called bursitis.
You have more than 150 bursae in your body. These often tiny, fluid-containing sacs
lubricate and cushion pressure points between your bones and the tendons and muscles near
your joints. They help you move without pain. When they become inflamed, movement or
pressure is painful.
Most often bursitis affects the shoulder, elbow or hip joint areas. But you can also
have bursitis by your knee, heel and even in the base of your big toe. Bursitis pain
usually goes away within a week or so with proper treatment, but recurrent flare-ups are
common and frustrating.
The common causes of bursitis are overuse, stress or direct
trauma to a joint, such as with repeated bumping or prolonged pressure from kneeling.
Bursitis may also result from an infection, arthritis or gout. Many times, the cause is
unknown.
Other forms of bursitis are caused by the repetitive motion related to certain
activities. They may be named after the profession or trade associated with certain
motions of the joints.
Miners' elbow results from swinging a pick. You may get a similar inflammation
by pushing a vacuum cleaner back and forth. Throwing a baseball and swinging a tennis
racket or a golf club are other examples of repeated physical activity that may lead to
bursitis or tendinitis of the elbow or shoulder. Simple repeated leaning on your elbows
could lead to bursitis over the tip of your elbow.
Diagnosis of Bursitis
Your doctor may do a physical examination and ask about your recent
activities. By feeling the painful joint, your doctor may be able to identify a specific
area of tenderness.
If it appears that something else may be causing the discomfort, your
physician may want an X-ray of the affected area. If bursitis is the cause, however, the
X-ray images will not establish the diagnosis, but they help to exclude other causes of
your discomfort.
Although you usually can trace bursitis to events of overuse or pressure, there may be
no obvious cause. In the latter case, your doctor may want to perform additional screening
or tests to rule out other causes of joint inflammation and pain. These may include blood
tests or an analysis of fluid from the inflamed bursa
Types of Bursitis
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