What is bursitis?
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A bursa is a small, fluid-filled sack that sits under a tendon like a cushion to reduce friction when the tendon rubs across a bone during movement. There are hundreds of bursae throughout the body. Sometimes they can become inflamed, and most commonly this happens in the shoulders and hips. It starts with mild pain that gets worse with activity and increases to a deep ache which can refer into your arm or leg and can disrupt both activity and sleep.
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The Subacromial Bursa is one that is commonly affected by this condition.
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How we treat it
Many people struggle with ongoing bursitis, despite rest from activity or corticosteroid injections. We find that modification of the regional shoulder mechanics is the fastest way to ensure complete recovery - some hands on treatment does help, but changing the way the shoulder moves significantly relieves the pressure off the area and gives the bursa the space it needs to heal itself. Without this change, not even the steroids are effective, and for this reason our treatment focuses on therapeutic exercise after the initial hands-on treatment.
Unlike physiotherapy, we have the luxury of long appointments at Pain Free Fitness: up to a full hour with your therapist or coach. With more time, we can get much faster results in terms of pain reduction and prevention of recurrence.
Here are some of the exercises that you should NOT be doing if you have bursitis:
Unlike physiotherapy, we have the luxury of long appointments at Pain Free Fitness: up to a full hour with your therapist or coach. With more time, we can get much faster results in terms of pain reduction and prevention of recurrence.
Here are some of the exercises that you should NOT be doing if you have bursitis:
getting you back into pain-free activity
Many of our clients express concern about getting back into the gym, sport or activity after stopping because of pain. They have been on the 'merry-go-round' where pain stops when they stop, but returns when they start again. This is where we can bridge the gap between traditional therapy and return to exercise.
The final part of our treatment will include a full movement assessment, taking into account your usual activities or sport. This enables us to establish your 'weakest links' (and likely cause of the issue) while actually performing your activity - not just while on the massage table. For example:
By going through this process, we can fully address the cause of your original pain, and prescribe you a specific program where the exercises constitute the final piece of the therapy puzzle. We use this as an education opportunity, and just about every client we work with has several lightbulb moments during these sessions as to why they move the way they do.
Our goal is for you to be able to self-manage your pain (rather than requiring ongoing therapy) and to re-program the way you move so you don't ever have to put up with this problem again. You will be stronger and have an improved overall foundation to build more strength and better performance.
If this process sounds like something you need, please click the button below to book a massage or myotherapy session.
The final part of our treatment will include a full movement assessment, taking into account your usual activities or sport. This enables us to establish your 'weakest links' (and likely cause of the issue) while actually performing your activity - not just while on the massage table. For example:
- Do your shoulder mechanics enable full rotation of the scapula while under load, or do you overuse your lats, traps and biceps to do any row or overhead movement? Is this natural patterning having an impact on your shoulder pain?
- Does your core strength support the movements of your upper body, or is your shoulder positioning causing a problem because of the relationship to the pelvis or rib cage?
- Advice on how to modify training loads (not stopping completely) is extremely important to maintain strength and support healing, recovery and confidence building.
By going through this process, we can fully address the cause of your original pain, and prescribe you a specific program where the exercises constitute the final piece of the therapy puzzle. We use this as an education opportunity, and just about every client we work with has several lightbulb moments during these sessions as to why they move the way they do.
Our goal is for you to be able to self-manage your pain (rather than requiring ongoing therapy) and to re-program the way you move so you don't ever have to put up with this problem again. You will be stronger and have an improved overall foundation to build more strength and better performance.
If this process sounds like something you need, please click the button below to book a massage or myotherapy session.