06/01/2021
Fibromyalgia and Bursitis
Bursitis is inflammation of the Bursa, a fluid-filled sac that acts as
a cushion between joints, seen to be common in joints that perform repetitive movements such as the Shoulder, Elbow, and Hip.
Prior to developing Fibromyalgia, I had never had any issues with my joints, ligaments, and tendons even though I had been involved in high contact sports and practiced as a Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor.
Suddenly waking up one day with a sore shoulder and a reduction in my range of motion had me second-guessing what was actually going on, was it a Fibro thing, did I somehow injure myself or did I sleep on my shoulder?
I was convinced it was a Fibro thing and I started to do my usual research and look into conditions associated with the symptoms I was experiencing and begun to diagnose myself accordingly, at first I thought to myself it was bursitis and sort of shrugged it off with " How could it be, that's not something young, healthy and fit people experience"..
I was sadly mistaken.
After calling my GP and having a scan done, it did, in fact, return as having bursitis and it was quite inflamed so I was advised I would need a steroid injection into the bursae.
The horror stories I had heard of others having these injections and being in so much pain I was dreading the thought of having to go through with it, my stress levels were so high walking into the appointment I was just grateful I had an amazing specialist who made the whole experience a breeze and I barely felt anything, we joked at the time at how my daily Fibro pain was actually worse hahaha ( it's the little things right?!).
Since experiencing the first episode of bursitis in my right shoulder, I experience flare-ups in my right and in my left shoulder with any repetitive movement, no matter how insignificant they may seem.
I have extensively researched the connection between Fibromyalgia and Bursitis and it's clear that there is a distinct and profound percentage of the Fibro community who experience Bursitis with their regular Fibromyalgia symptoms.
Fibromyalgia is such a complex and misunderstood Chronic Disease that affects the Soft tissue of the human body as well as the many systems of the body that enable us to function i.e Neurological, Endocrine, skeletal, etc.
It would make sense that the soft tissue that supports and enables the shoulder, elbow, and hip joints to move would suffer significantly in their function the same way that other parts of our body do not function correctly. due to the malfunctioning of the human body as a whole, excess stress is placed on surrounding muscles, joints, and ligaments to perform and therefore become "over-used", causing friction and inflammation in the bursae thus producing Bursitis.
I spend a lot of time moving around, whether its exercise, picking up and looking after my children, grocery shopping and the list could go on, but, I do recognize and pull myself up when I can start to feel the extra pain and discomfort in my shoulder and here a few handy tips I have picked up along the way that help alleviate my bursitis.
1: Always consult your leading practitioner in regards to care or treatment if you have never experienced Burstitis before so you can be expertly guided.
2. Stop or limit the activity that is causing the discomfort.
3. Grab a heat pack or cold pack, sit down, relax, and pop it on your shoulder, elbow,
or hip, some people like myself prefer the heat over cold and vice versa so whatever
works best for you and your pain/discomfort tolerance.
4. Anti-inflammatories can help alleviate the discomfort, due to the pain medication
crisis happening around the world, many Dr's won't give you anything stronger.
Anti-inflammatories can be found in medication forms, rubs, and or creams that can bring relief to the area once applied.
5. If you don't see relief over a couple of days, check-in with your GP and talk about options, they usually suggest a steroid injection to help with the pain and inflammation
and or Physio.
6. Listen to your body, we all know overdoing it can make recovery a lot harder than it needs to be so take the time to heal and know that you are doing what your body is required of you in order to heal.
