What can negatively influence the duration of bursitis?
An inflammation of the bursa must be treated correctly, otherwise it can become chronic. The bursa usually reduces the friction between bone and muscle or tendon; it also relieves the pressure that the bone exerts on the surrounding tissue. Any excessive mechanical stress on the inflamed bursa can negatively affect the duration of the disease and should therefore be avoided.
Heat is not beneficial in acute bursitis as it increases the inflammation. It is therefore better to cool the inflamed bursa with cold compresses or ice packs. In some cases the inflammation was caused by bacteria. If patients then do not take antibiotics, they run the risk that the bacteria will spread and enter the blood, causing life-threatening blood poisoning (sepsis).
Duration of bursitis of the elbow
Experience shows that an inflammation of the bursa at the elbow lasts for about 2 weeks. This is due to the fact that the elbow joint is not completely immobilized and is always moved along with the elbow joint, even when the body is relieved in everyday life. The movement of the joint is important despite the inflammation, otherwise the joint stiffens irreversibly. Those affected should therefore take care to protect the joint as much as possible and apply local anti-inflammatory measures, but at the same time move the joint temporarily in all degrees of freedom.
Duration of bursitis of the shoulder
In the case of a bursitis in the shoulder, the duration of the inflammation is highly dependent on the physical strain on the person affected. If the shoulder joint is consistently spared, the acute symptoms persist for about 5 days. It then usually takes another 5 days until the inflammation has healed completely, so that in the normal course of healing, an inflammation of the bursa in the shoulder lasts for one and a half weeks. It is important, however, that those affected take it easy for another 3-4 days if they are completely free of symptoms and gradually increase their load so that there is no acute overloading and thus a relapse.
Duration of bursitis of the hip
A bursitis in the hip is usually a more protracted disease, which can last 3-4 weeks if the healing process is uncomplicated. It is often caused by overstraining the joint and is accompanied by bony joint wear. The more severe the bony degeneration is, the more difficult it is to treat the bursitis with conservative measures, as the cause cannot be eliminated. The inflammation will therefore always return as long as the joint has not been rehabilitated. However, if there is no bony cause and thus no persistent irritation for the bursitis, a gradual subsidence of the symptoms can be expected after about 1 week.
