Bursitis

Upper Body workouts just ground to a halt with bursitis in my left elbow. Presently my elbow is quite red, swollen, hot, and painful when leaned on. I know visiting an MD will just result in prescribing an antibiotic, which I'm not crazy about. Anyone have suggestions of natural treatment for this to get me back at UB workouts sooner than later?

Should probably add that I've had golfer's elbow in both elbows for a couple of years from an ill-thought burpee challenge that are particularly affected by RC workouts... so I restrict UB to only twice a week as opposed to 3X per week for C & LB.

Thanks in advance.

Hey Bill,

Hopefully one of the medical professionals will chime in here. I don't have much experience with this. 

Not a medical professional but I had some olecranon bursitis last month. I'd smashed my right elbow on some timber I was loading onto a truck, then I did a fairly intense handstand workout before splitting firewood. By the end the day I couldn't even wear a coat - contact between the fabric and my elbow was excruciatingly painful. I sucked it up and took two full weeks off anothing to do with arms and applied a NSAID topical gel (Voltarol) a couple of times a day - I started back after a fortnight very gently introducing straight arm work first before the higher intensity bent arm stuff and now it's fine. (Which I was glad about as the last three months have seen several unrelated overlapping injuries).

Now perhaps mine cleared up quick because it started with a trauma - there may be more rehab / prehab needed if this is part of an ongoing long term problem.

Tony... thanx so much for the response. This is the first time with bursitis with me... and don't know how it cropped up. No trauma for me. Have had a look at Voltarol and will give that a shot along with no UB work. Thanks again!

Bursitis isn't treated with antibiotics, unless it's a septic bursitis (which is rare). I agree with the above post about letting the area rest and applying an antiinflammatory gel on the bursa. If that doesn't work, a bursitis usually respond really well to a cortisone injection (by a skilled doctor).

As for the root cause, it depends on where the bursitis is. If it's the elbow I assume it's the back / the olecranon? That's called "the student's elbow" because excessive leaning on your elbow on tables etc can cause it... so don't do that

I have dealt with bursitis in my left elbow twice within the past year.  I can't recall exactly when I initially damaged it.  I have had it drain and given a cortisone shot on both occasions. I have had to keep a compression sleeve on it for a portion of the day, usually at night when I sleep. In discussing this matter with my orthopedist, he indicated that these have a tendency to be very troublesome and have a habit of frequently reoccurring.

Rest is helpful, but my advice would be to have a reputable orthopedist take a look at it.

Good luck.

Jonas/Joseph: Thanks for the comments... much appreciated. Still swollen and out of commission for any upper body work. Will keep resting, icing, and using the NSAID. Joseph... hope your orthopedist is off-base with the recurring part!