SHOULDER BURSITIS

Bursitis is one of the many causes of impingement pain of the shoulder, giving restriction and pain when lifting the arm.

 

Bursae are small sacks of fluid and when inflamed in the shoulder, take up too much space, getting squashed when raising your arm causing painful pinching. Like all musculoskeletal problems, this is a problem of mechanics. Something doesn’t move properly.

 

From a manual physiotherapy perspective, bursitis, like all shoulder impingement problems usually responds well to joint mobilisation. In all my years of treating shoulder impingement almost all presentations have associated neck/upper back spinal joint stiffness. Manual mobilisation (loosening up) of the neck/back and shoulder joints will always yield improvement, unless there is structural damage. Having seen 100s of acute onset (within the previous two days) shoulder problems in the industrial sector, I can assure you that most of them come in with chronic, stiff upper backs that they’ve had for ages. 

 

True bursitis usually responds as well to a guided Cortisone injection. Bear in mind if the neck and shoulder joints are still stiff the jab may not solve the problem.

 

If you have shoulder pain that has not responded to injection and/or seeing a Physio who just uses machines and/or exercises, consider manual physiotherapy from someone like me, before we all retire!

SIDE HIP PAIN

July 1, 2025
Pain on the side of the hip from bursitis or gluteal tendon inflammation is an annoying problem often more so at night because lying on it frequently disturbs people’s sleep. It is a reasonably common problem for me to see. Tendons and bursae degenerate as we age and weakness in hip musculature can be a cause. But it can happen to anyone. Guided steroid injections can help, but most people respond well to soft tissue manipulation. The lower back should definitely be assessed and (usually) treated manually as related spinal joint stiffness frequently contributes to the issue. The hip joint should also be assessed and treated if necessary. Exercises can be helpful but need to match the pathology so an Ultrasound image might be needed give a diagnosis.

IRONMAN

June 1, 2025
Interstate visitor Client D came in two days before the Melbourne Ironman. Despite treatment interstate he had persisting leg soreness which had stopped him running for a week and had serious doubts on finishing, let alone doing well enough to earn him what he entered for: a qualifying position in the Hawaiian Ironman. He had some back joint stiffness and lateral hamstring trigger point muscle spasm and after loosening these up he felt better. However running a full marathon after the 3.8 kilometre swim and 180 kilometre cycle would be a massive test! The news post race was that he had got though the event and even with a puncture on the cycle grabbed a spot in Hawaii!  Well done to him! (And a bit to me too!)