Bursitis is an incredibly common problem, affecting people in many joints in the body. It most commonly happens in the shoulder, the hip, the knee or the achilles area, but can happen anywhere in the body that a bursa resides.
You see bursitis is the inflammation of a bursa, and we have over 150 of them in our body! They cushion and lubricate points between the bones, tendons and muscles near our joints. I like to describe them as little water balloons around your joints and when they’re inflamed (aka bursitis), the water balloon gets full of fluid, swells and thickens. It puts pressure on all the surrounding muscle tissues, tendons and ligaments.
But what causes bursitis? Overuse and repetitive movements can cause it, as can trauma, injury, poor posture, other conditions or muscular imbalances.
It results in localised pain in the affected area, most noticeable when the joint is squashed or compressed – for example, when lying on that joint at night.
Soft Tissue OTs look at bursitis quite uniquely. At your first appointment, we do a thorough assessment to find out what is causing YOUR bursitis and then treat accordingly.
We work to reduce the inflammation and irritation at the site of the actual bursa, releasing the soft tissues putting pressure on the bursa and focus on restoring the function of the muscles surrounding it. However, it doesn’t just stop there.
We go beyond that actual bursa. After all, there’s a reason this injury occurred in the first place and there’s something that has caused that bursa to become inflamed. So we need to assess that to make sure your bursa pain doesn’t return and you can be back to doing everything you’d like to be doing!
If you or someone you know is suffering from bursitis and would like to chat about it, feel free to share this post with them.
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