Don't let bursitis burst your bubble
Do you have unsolved pain in or near a joint? Is that pain worse with movement or pressure? You may have bursitis. Bursitis is the irritation and swelling of a bursa, one of the many fluid filled sacs that help with cushioning and gliding between various tendons and bones in the body. Bursitis is a fairly common cause of pain that, in my experience, is often overlooked in the process of diagnosing or ruling out more severe mechanical complications in the body. Bursa near your shoulder, elbow and hip and are the most commonly affected by bursitis, but any of the approximately 160 bursa in your body can be affected, including those at the back of your heel and under the ball of the foot.
The most common recommendations to treat bursitis are rest, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and ice, as well as stretching and strengthening the muscles in the surrounding area to protect the area from subsequent damage. However, I advise caution with NSAIDs due to recent evidence demonstrating slower bone and tissue healing resulting from long-term NSAID use. We are also learning more about the added benefits of alternating ice and heat versus ice alone. On its own ice causes constriction, which does help to reduce inflammation in an area. But alternating ice and heat creates a profound pumping effect where inflammation and waste products are pulled out of the local tissues by the ice, while the heat brings in fresh blood flow and with it the nutrients necessary for repair. This is just the start of the self-care you can do at home, but there is a lot more that can be done to accelerate the healing process and build up the body, making it more robust and less prone to injury.
In my experience, acupuncture is one of the most effective means of decreasing pain and kick-starting the healing process in bursitis. Acupuncture further activates cascades of physiological mechanisms that decrease inflammation and pain in an area while also being able to appropriately strengthen or relax muscles (and thus the tendons) that might be creating excessive friction or strain across a bursa. So that’s great — acupuncture excels at relieving pain, but let’s not forget about the bigger picture of creating lasting solutions to these problems. The bottom line is that the body knows how to heal itself if we can give it the conditions and nutrients it needs to do so. My mission with all of my patients is to find the deeper causes that lead to the breakdown in the system, and I address these underlying causes by combining acupuncture with nutrition and powerful whole food nutritional supplements. This works not only for people in pain, but for a wide range of conditions. In fact, many of our patients walk through our doors feeling hopeless, having been told there is nothing that can be done for them, and many of those people find their way back to feeling good again.
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Jonathan M. Sasser holds a Master of Science degree in Oriental Medicine, is a Licensed Acupuncturist and is board certified in Oriental Medicine by the NCCAOM. He has more than 3,000 hours of training in acupuncture, classical Oriental Medicine, herbal medicine and nutrition.
Additionally, Jon also holds a bachelor’s degree in sports medicine. Jon is a “Health Detective.” He looks beyond your symptom picture and investigates WHY you are experiencing your symptoms in the first place. Jonathan is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care services and whole food nutritional supplements at Vital Health in Coeur d’Alene.
Visit our website at www.vitalhealthcda.com to learn more about Jonathan, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. Jonathan can be reached at 208-765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.