Alternative Remedies For Bursitis

By Author: Dr. Victor Marchione
Total Articles: 90
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Bursitis is estimated to affect over eight million Americans. It is a painful inflammatory condition that afflicts those mostly over the age of 45. Bursitis is caused by the inflammation of your “bursae.” Bursae are fluid-filled sacs that lubricate and cushion pressure spots in the bones, tendons and muscles of your joints.
Bursitis usually results from repetitive motion in a joint or excessive pressure on the joint. This could be something as simple as resting on an elbow or knee for long periods of time or the repeated bending of a joint. Swelling, redness, a dull ache and stiffness could all result. “Tennis elbow” is, for the most part, caused by bursitis.

Diagnosing Bursitis
There is no standard test for identifying a case of bursitis. Radiology isn’t very effective, except in rare instances where there might be a fracture or a calcification of the bursal walls or nearby tendons.
A doctor will likely bend your joints, ask about any painful symptoms and examine the specific area of tenderness and inflammation. An x-ray could rule ...
... out other conditions, but it will not detect bursitis, as your bursae are very small and often hidden.
In some instances, the bursae may be infected. In that case, a sample of bursal fluid may be removed by a process called “aspiration.” This involves suctioning fluid out of the joint and then examining it.
However, in most cases, bursitis can be tracked to some activity that has inflamed the bursae. Gardening, installing tiles, using heavy tools, sitting on hard surfaces or “instant trauma” (such as a car accident or a fall) are all common causes of this painful condition.

Treating Bursitis
A traditional Western-medicine treatment of bursitis will likely involve drugs from the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) class. Ibuprofen, “Advil” or “Motrin” could be prescribed to reduce inflammation or control pain.
Alternatively, a doctor could prescribe a drug in the “COX-2 inhibitor” category, as it could cause fewer gastrointestinal side effects than those in the NSAID class.
If you would like to try an alternative approach to dealing with bursitis, however, there are a number of options to consider that could be quite effective at bringing you relief.

Acupuncture
Acupuncture has had some promising results in the treatment of bursitis. Needles are strategically placed in and near the area of inflammation around the bursal sac. This may sound painful, but acupuncture needles are extremely small, and when they’re inserted, they have the effect of relieving pain that’s caused by inflammation.
In one clinical trial, the analgesic effect of acupuncture-stimulation treatment on chronic tennis-elbow pain was studied. Forty-eight patients were examined before and after treatment. All patients were examined physically by an unbiased, independent examiner.
Half of the patients were treated at “non-segmental distal points” for elbow pain following Chinese acupuncture rules. The other half were given placebo acupuncture, which avoided penetration of the skin with the acupuncture needle.
The results were as follows: 55.8% of patients in the “real” acupuncture group reported an overall reduction in pain, compared to 15% in the placebo group. The average length of pain relief for those in the real acupuncture group was 20.2 hours, while in the placebo group, relief lasted an average of only 1.4 hours. The researchers concluded that acupuncture has a significant effect in the clinical treatment of tennis-elbow pain.5

Hydrotherapy
“Hydrotherapy” could be helpful in healing bursitis once the immediate swelling goes down. Many people have found pain relief by submerging the affected area in warm water. Also, a program of exercises can be performed in a large pool. This could be especially helpful if you have bursitis in your hip.
Hydrotherapy may be easier on painful joints because the water takes some of the weight off of the painful areas, while enabling you to strengthen and heal inflamed bursae. Hydrotherapy also is called “aqua therapy” or “water therapy.”
Ginger for Inflammation Relief
Ginger may not be your first thought as a treatment for bursitis pain. It has been around for a long time, and it has been used in both cooking and medicinal preparations for millennia. Ginger could help cleanse the colon, reduce cramps and improve circulation. It is a good antioxidant, as well as being “antimicrobial.” But most importantly for bursitis sufferers, ginger could relieve inflammation.
Ginger contains a number of healthful ingredients. It has a whole host of “phytochemicals” — those substances that scavenge and destroy free radicals. When it comes to fighting inflammation, researchers have determined that unique nutrients in ginger are able to inhibit the production of two substances: “prostaglandins” and “leukotrienes.” Both prostaglandins and leukotrienes play important roles in pain and inflammation.

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