Broken bursae
Yesterday as I was doing some pretty hard physical labor (breaking up some concrete with a hammer, and other construction) around the house I noticed some elbow discomfort, by the end of the day my elbow was twice it's normal size, very red and hot and moving into my forearm.
Although I do not remember banging it, the amount of inflammation made me belive I must have broken the bursae sack. I have iced it regularly, taken naproxyn ( continued to work around the house) but it is no better ( no surprize).
I am in total rest mode now, with a 70.3 coming up on June 6th. Hurts terrible to touch or bang it, and can not completely extend. Other than being very stiff, no pain other wise. Grip strength is fine, wrist or hand movement does not exaserbate.
Just curious what is typical for inflammation reabsorbtion in such bursae injuries? The only other differential diagnosis that I could think of is that I got bitten or stung by something. Compression seems to make it feel worse.
I wouldn't be as concerned if I did not have the 70.3 next weekend, wondering how the swimming will be and can't even imagine what the pressure from the aero bars will feel like.
Any recommendation or thoughts are appreciated.
Comments
Hrm, it does sound like bursa. If it were tendon/muscle/joint you would have some strength discrepencies based on movement and grip.
if it were me, I'd check in with my ortho ASAP to find out the real severity (i.e. is it a tear/leak or a full rupture). Treatment options will vary depending on that. A full rupture is bad so at the very least get the green light from someone who's looked at it. He/she may be able to drain some of the fluid to help decrease symptoms.
In the mean time, definitely keep up the naproxyn and ice, ice, ice. Don't let it get infected!!
Another option you can use to help decrease swelling is to use kinesotape. ever used it before??
Thanks for responding Leigh. But my body did not listen to you. I have a raging infection/cellulitis from my mid humerous to just shy of my wrist.
The olecrenon bursa is involved but no tear. Just started oral antibiotics. Hoping that manages it and I will not need to head to the ER for an IV.
If I heel quicklly like I usually do I should be able to race on Sunday. I just need the pain to subside enough so I can tolerate being in the aero bars.
Bob, wishing you a speedy recovery.
Busy day today in the medical forum...
@bob: how are you getting Naproxen and antibiotics, etc.?
any suspected infection should be drained and cultured, both for confirmation and specific antibiotic (you never know if it's typical or not). go to the urgent care and get it taken care of is my recommendation. don't wait to see if it's bad, since joint infections can lead to long term problems and waiting too long can risk bone involvement and then you are in major trouble.
take care, gh
Gilberto, now I'm nervous!!! I had the naproxen and started taking it right away when I thought it was just olecrenon bursitis. When I realized it was cellulitis I made an appointment with my primary who put me on Cephalexin. ( earlier today)
I did not have a fever and my cervical lymph nodes were fine. He did tell me to get to urgent care if a fever developed or if I started feeling ill. He felt I should be significantly better in 48 hours.
I don't know if the origen of the infection was a spider, bee, other insect or just a small scatch which I had several of.
Thanks for the advice.
Dear Bob,
Don't mean to get you nervous, just making sure you cover all the bases. If you saw your primary care doc and he/she actually examined you, then i suppose you have to trust their judgement. however, the complete and thorough eval would have involved a culture of the aspirate. this way the treatment remains the same, BUT you are actually getting hard evidence to rule out the more serious case of a joint infection, while at the same time relieving the fluid pressure that is causing you pain. makes sense, right?
in the meantime, take make sure you don't develop a fever, actually check with a thermometer. if a fever develops, then definitely go to urgent care or ER.
elbow bent slightly will relieve pain from pressure in the joint space. a sling helps keep your arm in that position, but you also don't want to put pressure on the cellulitis, so you might have to experiment with the most comfortable set up.
stay vigilant and all will turn out well.
GH
Gilberto,
Just wanted to thank you again for your advice. I did wind up going to the ER because they pain was getting progressively worse, and your recommendation. I did have septic bursitis, they drained it, did a cortisone shot and will be getting the culture results on Friday. They put me on some aditional antibiotics to cover mercer.
My ability to race on Sunday will be a game time decision, the question is can I tolerate the discomfort on the bike. I thought I had a pretty good chance to qualify for Clearwater. Now I just want to be able to compete. Tough pill to swallow but that's life.
Thanks
All of this will make you stronger, you have not lost fitness, or focus, we just need to find the right space for you to realize your Clearwater goal. If you can't race sunday, PM me, I gotz connekshuns yo.
Get well soon...
Patrick