Many joints have small, fluid-filled sacs (bursa) filled with fluid that act as a cushion and lubricate spots where the muscles or tendons rub against a bony protrusion. Overuse or repetitive stress causes these sacs to become inflamed and painful, resulting in Bursitis. Any joint may develop bursitis, the most commonly affected joints are the shoulder, elbow, knee, hip and foot. Bursitis often starts with localized pain that restricts joint motion.
Bursitis often affects the areas around the joints in your shoulders, elbows or hips. But you can also have bursitis by your knee, heel and even in the base of your big toe. The causes of this inflammation may be trauma, acute or chronic infection, rheumatoid arthritis or gout. Direct interference can be any interference to the nerve supply to a joint, like a shoulder. Indirect interference is created when the body's physiology is disturbed due to an insufficient nerve supply from the brain and spinal cord to organs involved in maintaining the fluid in the bursa sac.
Bursitis pain usually goes away within a week or so with proper treatment, but recurrent flare-ups of bursitis are common and can be frustrating.
