What is Bursitis?

Bursa's are fatty pads which protect muscles from friction. There are over 150 bursas in the body, however, only a hand full of these get irritated, pinched or injured. These are the ones we most commonly see in clinic:

Subacromial Bursitis - this is definately the most common, usually a pain in the front of the shoulder, which feels like a dull ache or pinch. There is usually pain on bringing the arm up over 90 degrees or reaching the arm behind your back.

Psoas Bursitis - the is felt in the front of the hip, usually due to desk work, too much time sat down and sometimes even tight trousers, as well as a tight psoas, weak gluts muscles and pelvic rotation.

Trochanteric Bursitis- felt on the upper outer thigh, can be due to weak gluts, tight iliotibial bands, poor pelvic stability, tight lower back or over use, such as long distance running.

To treat a Bursa, you cannot just treat the bursa itself, you need to treat around it, to settle it down.

This means working on the dysfunction causing it. Chances are that your poor biomechanics, muscle balance, repetitive movements or bad posture are causing injury to these fatty pads. The pain tends to be a dull ache, which has been lingering on for weeks, sometimes months or years.

Unfortunately, often these bursa do not settle until the functional aspects are resolved. So often patient's bursa has been sore for quite a while before we get to see them. However, once the a patient has come in to see us, we can get the root of the problem and help to get them tip top as quickly as possible!