Shoulder Bursitis

Bursitis is a condition that results in inflammation of a bursa. Basically, a bursa has a sac-like structure with a small amount of fluid filled inside its cavity. They are found near various joints of our body. They facilitate smooth joint movements by decreasing friction between different movable parts of the joints. When a bursa present in the shoulder gets inflamed, then it causes shoulder bursitis. It is also referred to as subacromial bursitis.

Causes and Symptoms

One of the key causes is injury to the rotator cuff. The structure of a rotator cuff consists of a group of four muscles and tendons that joins the bone of upper arm with the shoulder. Thus, it provides adequate support to the shoulder joint. It may get injured due to a bad fall on the arms, lifting of heavy objects or overuse of the shoulder. People who play sports like tennis, swimming or baseball regularly, often develop shoulder bursitis. Repetitive overhead movements of the arms can also cause this kind of problem. When arms are raised above the head repeatedly, it puts a lot of pressure on the bursa and it gets irritated. Shoulder impingement is often held responsible for inflammation of bursa. In this condition, the rotator cuff gets compressed in between the shoulder bones. This weakens the muscles and makes the shoulder joint unstable. As a result, the bursa gets affected too. Other problems like tendinitis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout can cause shoulder bursitis.

The most obvious symptom is pain and inflammation of the shoulder joint. Most people get a sharp shoulder pain due to bursitis all of a sudden while doing some activities. As they rest their shoulder they feel relieved. When the condition worsens further, they feel the pain even at rest. It often aggravates during the night. When the pain and swelling turns severe, it leads to loss of motion of the shoulder joint, and is described as "frozen shoulder". Sometimes, the affected shoulder becomes warm to the touch and the skin turns red.

Treatment

Shoulder bursitis is first treated with conservative methods of treatment. The shoulder should be rested to bring down the pain and inflammation. All such activities that aggravate the pain should be suspended temporarily. Ice application gives soothing relief to the painful symptoms. Put a few ice cubes in a plastic bag and wrap it up with a cloth. Then place it over the affected shoulder for 15-20 minutes. This should be repeated 4-5 times in a day. After 48 hours of ice application, you can start applying heat for few minutes with a heating pad, or warm compression. It improves blood flow in the region and eases off stiffness of the muscles. In some cases, use of sling is recommended, in order to restrict movement of shoulder joint.

Medicines used for treatment, are pain killers and antibiotics. To control mild to moderate pain in shoulder, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicines are given. However, such medicines are not effective on severe pain. In that case, cortisone injections are administered directly into the inflamed bursae for instant pain relief. Antibiotics are prescribed to prevent any kind of bacterial infection in the bursa.

Physical therapy has been proved to be helpful in many cases. It includes exercising under the supervision of the physical therapist. These shoulder exercises stretch the shoulder muscles and reduce stiffness. It is accompanied by massage that can heal up bursitis really well.

In some cases, when a bursa gets inflamed, the quantity of its fluid content also increases. As a result, reducing inflammation becomes difficult. The fluid is then drained out with the help of a needle. If this technique cannot remove the excess fluid, then surgery is needed for removal of fluid from bursa cavity.

With proper treatment, one can recover from shoulder bursitis within a few weeks. If surgery is conducted, then it may take a few months. Once you have recovered from the problem you must take preventive measure to reduce the chance of its recurrence. You should always try to keep the pressure on the shoulder minimum. Do some stretching exercises before a workout or any sports activities. Muscles strengthening exercises can make the muscles strong and flexible and prevent injuries to the soft tissues.