Bursitis treatment
When you picture your skeleton, you probably see in your mind’s eye a version of the hanging bones in a scientist’s office or on a movie. While this may be an anatomically correct idea of your skeleton, there are still a lot of pieces missing from the actual picture.
If your skeleton actually looked like the picture in your mind’s eye then you would have a really, really big problem because your bones, tissues and joints would be rubbing and grinding on each other. They would be wearing down, breaking and distributing tiny bone shards throughout your body. It would be extremely uncomfortable, to say the least and a license toward immobility at the most. Luckily, this is not how your skeletal system is actually set up. Instead, you have little sacs filled with a nice, lubricating fluid that sits between your bones and tissues, joints and tendons. These sacs are called bursa and they prevent you from experiencing a lot of injuries.
What causes bursitis?
If any of these sacs become irritated or inflamed, then you have bursitis. If you have constant, repetitive movements in part of your body where bursa are present then you could be at risk for bursitis. Sometimes, minor accidents and injuries can be the cause of bursitis and lead to your need for bursitis treatment.
Sometimes, long term illnesses such as arthritis and gout can put stress on the bursa sacs and cause bursitis also. Yet another cause could be when you have bones or joints that are placed in such a way that they take additional weight and pressure off your other bones or joints.
What are some bursitis treatment options?
The inflammation of your bursa sacs that necessitate the bursitis treatment can be reduced by the simple act of resting the inflamed area. If you have bursitis in your shoulder, you may find that simply resting that shoulder helps reduce the taxation of the joint and reduces the pain and bursitis. It is important that you also take steps to immobilize the area so you do not accidentally move it. So wrap a bandage or brace around the area affected by bursitis and apply an ice pack to further reduce the swelling and speed up the healing.
For some who suffer from bursitis, the simple act of resting is not enough. These patients turn to a form of bursitis treatment that serves the same purpose as rest and ice but more aggressively and in a quicker time frame. These people turn to anti-inflammatory medications. When using anti-inflammatory medications for your bursitis treatment you will find that bother over the counter and prescription medications work. While steroids also help to reduce inflammation, they are not always needed in bursitis treatment.
Preventing bursitis
While bursitis treatment does help to treat the symptoms and cause of bursitis, avoiding the need for bursitis treatment altogether is a much better plan. In order to avoid ever needing bursitis treatment you might consider exercising with a personal trainer who can show you the right and wrong way to tax your muscles and joints. If that is not the cause of your bursitis, and an anatomical defect is, then you might consider physical therapy. Physical therapy can help strengthen your underused muscles and take some of the strain off the muscles and joints you use too often.
Since bursitis often strikes the knees, another option for prevention is to invest in knee pads. Unfortunately, this option isn’t available for all types of bursitis, but if you suffer from bursitis as a result of working on your knees then knee pads could be your source for bursitis avoidance.
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