Bursitis, inflammation of the bursa, is caused by repetitive impact on a joint or sudden injury to a joint. Age places a part in bursitis, as most cases happen in adults over the age of forty. Adults should take care to make adjustments to and stretch before engaging in high-risk activities such as gardening, raking, carpentry, painting, pitching, tennis and golf. Abnormal and poorly placed bones and joints can also cause bursitis.
How can I tell if I have bursitis?
- Pain is specific and localized to an affected joint such as the knee, shoulder, elbows, hips, and heels.
- Pain is a dull ache or stiffness
- The pain gets worse with movement
- Affected joints are swollen and warm to the touch
How can I prevent bursitis?
Stretch out carefully and start activities slowly. Even if you’ve done an activity before without trouble, you should always start slowly if you have been away for a significant period of time.
How can I treat bursitis?
- Rest the affected joint. Don’t completely eliminate movement but do avoid the movement that caused the injury.
- If the bursitis is in the feet you will need to get properly fitting shoes.
- Make adjustments to the activity that caused the injury. Use a stool to garden instead of kneeling for example.
- Ice the injury to bring down the swelling.
- Three or four days after the injury use a heating pad to increase circulation and healing.
- Do some low impact stretches and exercises to get the injury moving again after it has rested.
- If the bursitis is in the shoulder, slowly walk your hand up a wall. Do not push your shoulder to move until it hurts and do not do this exercise until the swelling is gone.
- Drink orange juice. Vitamin C is vital in repairing and helping to prevent injuries.
- Drink pineapple juice. It contains bromelain which is used to reduce inflammation and swelling.
- Add turmeric to your food. The curcumin in turmeric is an effective anti-inflammatory and works as well as cortisone without side effects.
