If the knees, elbows or other joints begin to ache for no reason, and the pain is accompanied by swelling and limited mobility - you must have become a victim of bursitis. This is the most common joint disease, which is the inflammation of the bursa - the periarticular (synovial) bag - and the accumulation of fluid in it. As a result, under the outer surface of the patient's joint, small tumors are formed, which are detected by palpation.
What are bursitis?
Although bursitis has characteristic symptoms, the diagnosis should be made by a specialist, and one should not delay it with a visit. Like any other disease, bursitis is easier to treat at the initial stage.
The disease can be acute and chronic, triggered by trauma, joint overload, arthritis, gout, an infectious agent and other factors. However, often bursitis begins to attack joints for no apparent reason.
Often, bursitis accompanies athletes - without threatening their health, they go through a few weeks. Traumatic bursitis is mainly affected by patients under 35 years (mostly men).
If you do not start treatment of acute bursitis in time, it will invariably, like other diseases, develop into a chronic form.
Traditional treatment
If bursitis is infectious, treatment involves taking antibiotics, often intravenously. In some cases, aspiration (pumping) of fluid from the bursa with a syringe and a needle is required. The operation requires complete sterility. Septic (infectious) bursitis involves systematic observation of a physician. In difficult cases, repeated aspiration, surgical drainage, or even removal of the bursa may be required.
Traditional treatment of chronic bursitis involves the removal of calcium deposits that interfere with the free movement of the joint, surgically.
In non-infectious bursitis treatment is prescribed a course of anti-inflammatory drugs and complete rest, sometimes aspiration is necessary.
Non-traditional treatment
There are many time-tested folk methods of treating bursitis at home. Before deciding on an operation that we all are so afraid of, it is worth trying at least one of the unconventional prescriptions. By the way, they are simple and painless, unlike injections and other classical methods of treating bursitis.
- Effective treatment of knee bursitis provides leaves of cabbage or burdock. They should be shaved with a rolling pin and attached to the joint, previously lubricated with sunflower oil. Sheets should be changed at night, but you should always go around with a bandage. It is better to wrap the joint with a warm kerchief. The course of treatment is a month.
- Another proven remedy for knee bursitis is the good old Kalanchoe, which is easy to find on every second window sill. You need to borrow from the flower three large sheets and leave them for the night in the refrigerator. In the morning, leaflets should be slightly suppressed and, scalded with boiling water, make a compress with them (change frequently).
- Horse chestnut, unattractive at first glance, is actually able to heal ulnar bursitis - treatment involves the use of compresses. The tincture is prepared simply: two glasses of ethyl alcohol will need a bottle of pharmacy bile,
two glasses of horse chestnut fruit and three shredded aloe leaves. All ingredients should be mixed and left for a week and a half. After the tincture, you need to wet a linen cloth and make a compress, and wrap the joint with a warm kerchief. Ten days later, you need to take a break of the same duration, then repeat the course. - In the case of bursitis of the thumb of the foot, treatment with traditional preparations should be supplemented by the ingestion of broths of burdock, St. John's wort and yarrow. They are prepared simply: 2 spoons of dried leaves pour a glass of boiling water and insist half an hour. Then decoction is filtered, diluted with boiled water (1: 1) and drunk three times a day.