Pain-Free and Fit with Dr. Ric Alexander

The symptoms of bursitis can be treated in various ways. Some relieve the pressure on a bursa temporarily while others help reduce the inflammation caused by the joint imbalance. In my experience, none of these treatments remove the primary cause as PMBT treatments do, but they are helpful to varying degrees.

Exercise to strengthen certain muscles can sometimes create a counter pull against the tight, damaged muscle. This can help realign the joint in some cases, thereby relieving some of the stress on the inflamed bursa. However, if not done properly it could cause increased pressure on the bursa instead. Unfortunately, since most joint imbalances vary, a generic exercise program can’t be designed for bursitis conditions. Specific exercises would be designed for someone who received some PMBT treatments but could not stay long enough to get their joint totally realigned. Those who get their joints realigned totally would be taught exercises to keep their muscles strong and more resistant to over-stress. This helps prevent the problem from returning once the muscles have healed from the treatments.

Stretching can also be helpful. It is most effective when the tight damaged muscles causing the misalignments are stretched. However, stretching the muscles will only help relieve the pressure temporarily. If done once or more every day this could help quite a bit. Again, specific stretches would be designed for a patient who could not receive enough treatments to get their damaged muscles restored to normal length. A balanced stretching program would be taught to those who were able to get enough treatments to restore their joints back into total alignment. Stretching also helps prevent more muscle damage from accumulating.

A lot of bursitis therapies use heat in some form. Applying heat to short, damaged muscles causes them to lengthen temporarily, thereby relieving some of the pressure on the bursa. This provides some relief, however heat also increases inflammation and makes the problem worse. Using heat to treat bursitis is a two-edged sword. It helps a little in one way but hurts in another. Whatever you do, never apply dry heat to your muscles. Since muscles are around 70 percent water, the dry heat dehydrates them causing them to become shorter. This creates a greater imbalance in the joint making your problem worse. I believe that massaging and stretching your tight muscles will relieve the pressure and pain as much as moist heat without the negative effect of increasing the inflammation.

Nutrition doesn’t remove the cause of bursitis, but can be very helpful at treating the inflammation and pain. It is one important part of treating any inflammatory condition.

A great deal has been written about treating inflammatory conditions with nutrition so I’m not going to go into a lot of detail here. The best foundation is to increase your intake of fruits and vegetables and decrease your intake of fats, grain products and meats. Since most fruits and vegetables leave an alkaline ash after being digested they have an anti-inflammatory effect. They also help reduce excess body fat so you should also become leaner and therefore place less stress on any weight-bearing joint affected with bursitis. There are also many other health benefits from eating more fruits and vegetables, so explore and enjoy the many varieties available.  This detailed much more extensively in victory over fat.

A number of nutritional supplements have an anti-inflammatory effect. Bromelain, an enzyme from pineapples, and curcumin herb are both good natural anti-inflammatories but must be taken between meals instead of with meals as usually stated on the label. These should be safe for anyone to use 2-3 times a day. Consult a good herb book or nutritionist for other good natural products that decrease inflammation. Even though herbs are natural products and can be used quite a bit without any side effects, I feel it is best to cycle their use. In other words, get three or four products and use one on Monday, another on Tuesday, the next on Wednesday, and the last one on Thursday. Then begin again with the first one on Friday. This should prevent any negative effects that may occur using herbs to excess. Some herbs are quite powerful and should only be used long enough to re-establish balance when an imbalanced situation is present. Always consult a physician knowledgeable in nutrition before starting any supplementation program. This is especially important if you are taking any medication.

When someone does a physical activity to excess, they strain the muscle which was overused. This can happen to a well-trained athlete who is striving to excel, or a retired person who overdoes it working in their garden. This scenario is often seen in the “weekend warrior” athlete who sits at a desk all week, and then goes all out during the weekend with a physical activity like softball or tennis. The resultant muscle strain (mild tear) creates inflammation and pain. This strain usually occurs near the end of the muscle where it attaches to a bone or blends into its tendon. This creates a condition known as acute tendinitis. This condition could also be created if the muscle is strained from trauma.  The usual treatment for acute tendinitis is to rest the area, apply ice periodically for the first 24 hours, and then to use moist heat. Rest prevents further muscle injury, the ice reduces the initial inflammation and swelling. and the moist heat circulates blood through the area to speed the healing process. Now, if you added gentle massage and stretching to this treatment plan the muscle would probably heal totally back to normal.

However, this is not what the average person usually does!  They may ice once or twice and rest a bit, but most often just take an over-the-counter pain medication and continue on with their normal activities. If the strain was minor, their body may be able to heal the muscle fibers normally. Unfortunately, this is not the usual result because the injured muscle is being used instead of rested. Because of the stress on the muscle, their body heals the injured muscle fibers by binding them together with fibrotic adhesions, or scar tissue. This is done in an attempt to prevent further damage to the injured area. It is a normal protective response of their body.

Formation of scar tissue in an injured muscle causes it to become shorter and tighter than normal. This places more tension and stress on the muscle, making it easier to strain during future physical activities. If the muscle is over-stressed or re-injured further, eventually enough scar tissue will form to shorten the muscle to the degree that it can pull its attached bone out of normal alignment. The result is a joint misalignment which causes a chronic condition to develop. If a tendon receives most of the stress from the joint misalignment then chronic tendinitis develops. If a nerve is stretched or has excess pressure on it from abnormal swelling caused by the joint misalignment then a chronic neuritis condition will develop. This happens most often when the spinal vertebrae are pulled out of their normal alignment (subluxated). If the cartilage of a joint is receiving abnormally high pressure on it because of the joint misalignment, then a chronic arthritis condition will develop. Now, last but not least, if the bursae around the joint receives excess pressure and stress because of the misalignment then a chronic bursitis develops.