Morgan our general practice osteopath and specialist at The Art of Healing gives some insight into bursitis and how it can be treated at our clinic.
“Bursitis is a painful condition that affects the small, fluid-filled sacs — called bursae — that cushion the bones, tendons and muscles near your joints. Bursitis occurs when bursae become inflamed – whether from overuse, repetitive strain or injury – its a surprisingly common condition that we see a lot of in the clinic.
The most common locations for bursitis are in the shoulder, elbow and hip. But you can also have bursitis by your knee, heel and the base of your big toe. Bursitis often occurs near joints that perform frequent repetitive motions such as in sports or walking.”
“It really does depend on the area- but when it tends to be around the joints, it can be very acute, very hot around the area, sometimes swollen and usually red. The most common symptom is that it’s very painful to touch. Long term bursitis – especially in the hip and knee can present with pain when walking and a dull ache into the muscle of the buttock and glute. A bursitis isn't always obvious at first – it can often be an underlying cause to other local muscle pain.”
“I would say all our bursitis patients who have had treatment in the client have been very successful. It always depends on where the bursitis is, the deeper the bursitis the harder it is to treat, however, we've got some amazing, modern technology in the clinic such as shockwave therapy – for example, that really allows us to treat the bursa deeply.
Recently I've seen a lof of patients with bursitis in the hip for example - usually caused by a lot of walking, some people think it’s just regular hip pain and it turns out to be bursitis and with about 3-4 sessions with the shockwave therapy that we offer we have been able to help and provide relief and a positive outcome to the problem.
For example, I've just an older lady patient I've discharged this week – she'd been suffering from a trochanteric (hip) bursitis for over 2 years – been given the usual physio exercises etcetera, but noone had actually done some good hands on treatment for her to really get to that bursa and encourage it to reheal. A good combination of osteopathy and physio, shockwave therapy and exercise recommendations – and she's better after only 4 sessions!”
“It’s like with everything you need to stay active, healthy but unfortunately, these things tend to happen quite randomly. Everyone is different but it usually depends on where the bursitis is and what you do. For example - you can get bursitis just under where the kneecap is, this actually used to be known as ‘house-mates knee’ and you can get that from kneeling for long periods of time.
People that are in construction or carpentry industry tend to get it quite frequently. It really depends on your activity and trying to avoid any continual repetitive action that may cause the pain.”
Have you been recently diagnosed with bursitis? Are you struggling to see any improvement in your condition? Are you looking for expert hands on advice and treament? Talk to one of the team today regarding treatment available and call 0203 146 6755 or book us online!
