Shoulder Bursitis
Sharp, catching pain in your shoulder?
Suffer no more - There are solutions!
Also known as:
Subacromial bursitis
Subdeltoid bursitis
Shoulder impingement
What is Shoulder Bursitis?
Your shoulder joint is a ball and socket joint
In between and above the the ball and socket - there are three pockets of fluid called your “Bursa”
When your ball and socket doesn’t roll around in a smooth manner, your bursa gets irritated and inflamed and squashed at times!
Shoulder Bursitis / Impingement Symptoms:
You may not get much pain at rest
Pain in shoulder when you start to lift your arm out to the side
This is when the ball and socket needs the most control; for your arm to move fully
Can be referred to as Shoulder impingement
Dull / Sharp pain on some movements on the front/side of your shoulder
Some small movements can cause a sharp pain enough to take your breath away!
Pain on lifting over head
Pain flicking your doona cover off in the morning
Pain turning the steering wheel
Pain and weakness on throwing
Pain doing your hair, cutting the veggies
Pain on sleeping on painful side
Pain that may wake you at early hours of the morning
Should I be Concerned?
Of course not! It can be resolved with your Physio.
We see many painful shoulders and will tell you the best course of action to take.
How can Physio help Shoulder bursitis?
We will make sure we get your pain down first by hands on therapy so you can move your arm and get some sleep!
We will explain what is causing your bursa to be annoyed and irritated and how to address the source.
We will give you appropriate exercises to do at home to give you relief and get you stronger to move better
Do I need an X-ray / Ultrasound / MRI?
No, save a few hundred dollars on scans!
We can diagnose bursitis / impingement in the clinic without the need for scans.
Once we assess your shoulder, if we think you need a scan - we can refer you to get one.
If your GP has already done scans, bring them in and we can look at your pictures and explain word for word- your report and tell you what’s relevant and what’s not to your shoulder pain.
Will I need a cortisone injection for my shoulder bursitis?
No. Cortisone for too long has been prescribed as a ‘quick fix’ due to the theory that it should help to decrease inflammation in the bursa in the shoulder and thus reduce pain. However this has been known to be a band aid solution which doesn’t treat the source of pain by addressing the ball and socket to stop irritating the bursa.
As our understanding of shoulder pain and bursitis continues to improve, we will see less and less cortisone being prescribed for such issues.
If the medical advice you have been given is to get a cortisone as the first line of treatment, we recommend you get a second opinion of your shoulder bursitis.
Do I need surgery for my shoulder bursitis?
No, you will most likely not need surgery for shoulder bursitis.
Recent research has shown that surgery for shoulder bursitis is no more effective than sham surgery (where the surgeon will make an incision but not perform any decompression). This aligns with our understanding that the bursa and surrounding structures are not the main cause of your pain. Therefore the risks associated with surgical intervention for shoulder bursitis would simply be too high when conservative management of physiotherapy and exercise rehabilitation have been shown to elicit much greater long term results.
It is unlikely that medical advice will be to have a surgical decompression of your shoulder joint for shoulder bursitis and we highly recommend at least 12 months of Good Physio before considering this option.