What is a Trochanteric Bursitis?
Trochanteric bursitis is the inflammation of the bursa, which is a fluid-filled sac designed to prevent friction between different structures, that sits over the greater trochanter, the bony bump that can be felt on the side of the hips. This inflammation can occur for several different reasons, such as, injury to the point of the hip, poor posture, overuse of the surrounding muscle structures, leg length discrepancies or bone spurs.
Trochanteric Bursitis
How is a Trochanteric Bursitis commonly treated?
The main goals in treating trochanteric bursitis is to reduce the inflammation of the bursa, which will then help in reducing pain. As many of the causes of the inflammation of the bursa are due to incorrect movement, exercise of the surrounding muscles and correcting movement patterns can cause a significant improvement in pain. The aim of exercise is to reduce pressure being placed on the bursa throughout movement, allowing inflammation to settle. Anti-inflammatory medication or corticosteroid injections can also help in reducing inflammation, which can help in providing a window to exercise pain-free and restore good movement patterns.
How can an Exercise Physiologist help?
With our knowledge of anatomy and physiology of the body, we as Exercise Physiologists can help by teaching you correct movement patterns to help in offloading the trochanteric bursa and correctly strengthening the surrounding muscle structures of the hip to assist in avoiding inflammation of the bursa in the future.
