Bursitis or Tendonitis Recovery time

[mcshame]

Anyone have experience recovering from Bursitis or Tendonitis in the shoulder/upper arm? I fell on the ice playing hockey with kids, injuring my left shoulder/arm. Reduced motion and some pain when extending it. I'm finding the ART and physio just irritate it and sleeping on it sets it back. It's been about a month now.

Does it just take some time? Any experiences?

[PinkLady]

Glad it wasn't your legs/knees/ankles!

IME, shoulders take foreeeeeeeever to heal. I overdid a shoulder press on my left shoulder last year, and had a 'crunchy' shoulder for awhile - couldn't do a backstroke movement without it hurting. I found ART didn't help it at all. Fortunately, being my non-dominant side, it didn't really bug me not to use it much. It was probably about two months before I stopped feeling it twinge, but for awhile everything that involved rotating the shoulder would twinge/crunch.

Recently I wrenched the crap out of my right shoulder (getting into an ice bath, I slipped and took the brunt of the fall on my arm instead of risking my legs ).....I think it was just a strain though, as it felt fine after a few weeks.

The good thing is, unlike legs, you don't *have* to put weight on your shoulders.

[5km]

Sorry to hear about your injury. I have nothing helpful to say except be patient and try not to re-injure it.

I hurt my shoulder by grabbing the main sheet on my sailboat in an effort to prevent a crash gybe. The force on the line jerked my arm and shoulder very hard and it took a very long time, i.e. months, to recover. However I am considerably more ancient than you so your recovery should be faster. I hope.

As mentioned previously, be grateful it wasn't your leg. I've been having major tendonitis/bursitis (??) issues in my hip and (excuse me) butt for over a year now and it ain't over yet.

[mcshame]

Sorry to hear about your injury. I have nothing helpful to say except be patient and try not to re-injure it.

I hurt my shoulder by grabbing the main sheet on my sailboat in an effort to prevent a crash gybe. The force on the line jerked my arm and shoulder very hard and it took a very long time, i.e. months, to recover. However I am considerably more ancient than you so your recovery should be faster. I hope.

As mentioned previously, be grateful it wasn't your leg. I've been having major tendonitis/bursitis (??) issues in my hip and (excuse me) butt for over a year now and it ain't over yet.

Yes, my wife had it in the butt and it took awhile to deal with

[fe.RMT]

That sucks. To differentiate between the two bursitis is often described as "exquisite pain" which I take to mean: hurts like a mofo. Bursitis will tend to hurt no matter what you do (at rest, with movement etc) whereas tendinitis tends to be aggravated by movement, especially contraction of the affected muscle. If the pain is at the top of the shoulder (which I would suspect it is if you think it's bursitis) then it is likely to be supraspinatus tendinitis. Personally I would suspect bursitis first given the 'traumatic' mechanism as tendinitis is not usually a traumatic injury.

Ice is important (don't ice for longer than 5-8 minutes) and try to keep up pain free range of motion. Sometimes the weight of an ice pack is painful on the bursa, you can make a donut out of a wet towel and then freeze it. Place that around the area with the most painful area in the hole if the donut. The inflammation from bursitis can sometimes lead to capsulitis in the shoulder so you want to keep things moving to prevent that from happening. Because the bursa is like its own little pocket of fluid it takes a while for it be reabsorbed and for the swelling to go down (unlike say a sprain where the fluid can get reabsorbed/circulated more quickly)

[eme]

I have had tendonitis in both shoulders (incorrect swimming technique).

If you can find one - find a physio that specializes in upper limb injures (they do exist).

Second, do not sleep on that side - use a pillow if you have to keep yourself from rolling over. I found that made the biggest difference in recovery (so as not to aggreviate the shoulder as it healed). I did physio and rest from swimming. I also started strength training once everything healed and it seems to keep more injuries at bay - but I am still careful with my swim stroke and how my shoulders feel. My RMT also did some awesome work to loosen things up.

[Avis]

Sorry to hear about your shoulder. I got bursitis in the shoulder of my throwing arm playing softball when I was in my early 20's. The acute pain went away in weeks (with naprosin being the only treatment.) The residual stiffnes lasted years! Of course, I wasn't smart enough to see a physio back then. So, it sounds like you are in the acute stage still, and you have to just rest it, ice it, etc. for the time being. Good luck!

[mcshame]

When doing normally activities, typing, walking, no issue. Bending the left arm in the shower to clean the right top of shoulder, pain in the lower shoulder area, above the triceps. Same if I take my arm and extend it straight outward all the way, it he shoulder/tricep area. I'm trying to sleep on my back to see if that helps, Michelle is complaining about my snoring. I'm thinking of stopping the physio, still undecided.

[5km]

That sucks. To differentiate between the two bursitis is often described as "exquisite pain" which I take to mean: hurts like a mofo. Bursitis will tend to hurt no matter what you do (at rest, with movement etc) whereas tendinitis tends to be aggravated by movement, especially contraction of the affected muscle.

Well, I learned something useful today. For months I have been trying to decide if my ongoing hip/butt pain had degenerated into bursitis. Based on your description and the fact that I am pain free when not moving the effected area, I have to conclude that I do not have bursitis. Furthermore the pain is not "exquisite", as you describe and is related to movement of the effected muscles and tendons. This all started with badly strained hamstrings and progressed to injured abductor muscles/tendons. My rehab fight continues but I now feel much more confident that I do not have bursitis.

Many thanks, fe.sweetpea, for the information and insight.

[fe.RMT]

That sucks. To differentiate between the two bursitis is often described as "exquisite pain" which I take to mean: hurts like a mofo. Bursitis will tend to hurt no matter what you do (at rest, with movement etc) whereas tendinitis tends to be aggravated by movement, especially contraction of the affected muscle.

Well, I learned something useful today. For months I have been trying to decide if my ongoing hip/butt pain had degenerated into bursitis. Based on your description and the fact that I am pain free when not moving the effected area, I have to conclude that I do not have bursitis. Furthermore the pain is not "exquisite", as you describe and is related to movement of the effected muscles and tendons. This all started with badly strained hamstrings and progressed to injured abductor muscles/tendons. My rehab fight continues but I now feel much more confident that I do not have bursitis.

Many thanks, fe.sweetpea, for the information and insight.

contract the muscle, gently at first then with increasing force. Usually the pain of tendinitis will increase when the force of contraction increases. Bursitis will eventually move into a chronic stage... what it was like in the acute stage can give you evidence as well. There is quite a bit of swelling with bursitis ... enough that if the bursa is in a lower fat area it will be visible (like a golf ball...... or larger).

[5km]

contract the muscle, gently at first then with increasing force. Usually the pain of tendinitis will increase when the force of contraction increases. Bursitis will eventually move into a chronic stage... what it was like in the acute stage can give you evidence as well. There is quite a bit of swelling with bursitis ... enough that if the bursa is in a lower fat area it will be visible (like a golf ball...... or larger).

I've never had any swelling with this problem. The pain and discomfort is movement dependent. It started with pain in the butt during running and progressed to discomfort and pain post-run and even the following few days. After some rest, things improve only to be re-injured and re-started during the next run. 5 to 10 days of rest help but the problem recurs as soon as I start running again. I think it's chronic tendonitis and muscle strain, not bursitis.

It's been improving very slowly recently with a modified treadmill running program, plus some exercising, ice, foam roller etc. etc. It's frustrating but I'm not giving up. It sure would be nice to run an uninterrupted 5k again without pain during or after the run.