I had an outbreak of Bursitis last week for the first time in my life. (67 y/o). Lots of edema in the right leg. A sore and swollen knee. Two long, sleepless nights. Luckily, the entire event only lasted about three days, just when I was planning transportation to an Urgent Care clinic. My main Doc. told me what the condition was called. Just when you think you’ve experienced it all.
They repaired it all and left the bursa. Might be why my recovery went so well. Except for the PT. PT hurts. A lot.
I learned the hard way how complicated the shoulder joint is. I ended up getting 9 surgeries after the doctor who performed the first one destroyed my shoulder. It took another 8 surgeries to get my shoulder to where I can use my arm again. I went in to have a small tear repaired and left with a much larger tear, the removal of part of my collarbone and AC joint and titanium anchors that didn’t stay in place.
Pity only the abstract is available...
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.add8273
But why do I think this is really about something other than Big Med having a Duh! moment...?
From the abstract...
“...To evaluate the potential of the bursa as a therapeutic target, polymer microspheres loaded with dexamethasone were delivered to the intact bursae of rats after tenotomy. Dexamethasone released from the bursa reduced Il1b expression in injured rat supraspinatus tendon, suggesting that the bursa could be used for drug delivery to reduce inflammation in the healing tendon...”
Not mentioned in abstract, but I’ll betcha stem cells, gene therapy are also being studied.
Lots of painful PT but I was back playing 8 months later.
It involved arthroscopic surgery rather than cutting.
Bump for future reference.
Ooopsie!
Glad I turned down surgery and let things heal naturally.
Vit B12 shots daily can usually cure bursitis in @ 2 weeks