What is Bursitis?

What is Bursitis?

Bursitis is an inflammation of one of the body’s bursae (the fluid-filled sacs that cushion the joints). This painful condition can be caused by a mild injury, repeated use (such as prolonged kneeling on a hard surface), arthritis, or infection. Commonly affected joints include the shoulder, elbow, knee, and hip.

Bursitis is typically identified by the localized pain or swelling that occurs when the small sac (bursa) found inside joints become inflamed. The fluid-filled sac helps to lubricate and cushion the joint. When it is inflamed, movement can be painful. Usually, bursitis occurs in larger joints such as shoulders and hips. Symptoms of bursitis may include swelling, redness, a warm joint area, aching or stiffness in the joint that gets worse with movement.

Without seeing your health care provider, you usually can’t tell the difference between bursitis and pain caused by a strain or arthritis.  Often just resting and elevating the joint can help. Applying ice may help relieve pain and swelling. Once the joint is no longer painful, you can work to strengthen the muscles around the joint and prevent further flare-ups.

Chiropractic and Physiotherapy treatments can help most people with musculoskeletal disorders such as bursitis. Treatment options can include manipulations, or modalities such as cold lasers, ultrasound and a decompression table.

Contact Diversified Health to speak with one of our health care practitioners for information on the treatment options that could be right for you.

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What is Tennis Elbow? What Causes It?

Tennis elbow is an overuse and muscle strain injury caused by the repeated contraction of the forearm muscles that you use to straighten and raise your hand and wrist and affects 1% to 3% of the overall population. Repeated motion and stress to the tissue can cause inflammation or even a series of tiny tears in the tendons that attach the forearm muscles to the bony “knob” at the outside of your elbow, and the results can be painful.

Common Causes

Many common activities other than playing tennis, can cause this painful condition, including gardening, working around the house, or any activity that involves repetitive twisting of the wrist. Pain and weakness caused by tennis elbow can make it difficult to do simple everyday activities such as shake hands, use a doorknob, or hold a coffee cup.

If You Think You Have Tennis Elbow:

It’s always best to consult a healthcare provider to get an expert opinion. Luckily, up to 90% of cases can be remedied by nonsurgical treatments, and symptoms usually diminish within four to six weeks after receiving appropriate treatment.

For immediate relief, resting the affected arm and applying ice may help relieve symptoms, and anti-inflammatory medications can help reduce pain. Braces or wrist splints may also help to relieve the symptoms of tennis elbow along with specific range of motion exercises.

Treatment Options

The type of treatment prescribed for tennis elbow will depend on several factors, including age, overall health, medical history, and severity of pain. The goals of treatment are to reduce pain or inflammation, promote healing, and decrease stress and abuse on the injured elbow.

Physiotherapy & Chiropractic treatments can help treat tennis elbow; using a combination of Ultrasound, Class IV Laser, Shockwave Therapy and Graston Instruments to reduce inflammation. Specific exercises to stretch and strengthen the muscles of your forearm will help to strengthen those muscles and prevent the condition from re-occurring.

Your practitioner will also discuss changes you may need to make to your work environment, sport technique or sports equipment that you are currently using.

Tennis Elbow Relief in Victoria, B.C.

Contact Diversified Health to speak with one of our health care practitioners for more information on tennis elbow and what options could be right for you.

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Bullying in the Workplace

When we think of bullying, the images we imagine are most often those of children or teens being bullied either at school or in social groups. The reality though is that bullying is not exclusive to the young or to those in school. Workplace bullying happens, and more often than we like to think about.

While it may look different on the surface, it is just as damaging and has just as significant of an impact as the schoolyard bullying that we associate with bullying. Recent statistics point to almost 45% of polled employees stating that they feel, or have recently felt, bullied in their workplace. That is a staggering number of persons affected by behaviour that is rarely talked about.

What does workplace bullying look like?

Bullying behaviour in a workplace can generally be classified as behaviour that is:

  • Intimidating
  • Offensive
  • Abusive (verbally or emotionally , rarely physically in the workplace)
  • Insulting
  • Persistent
  • An abuse of power or position of authority.

The ways that these behaviours manifest vary but often the following are present:

  • Undermining or deliberately impeding a person’s work.
  • Constantly changing work guidelines
  • Withholding necessary information
  • Yelling or using profanities
  • Persistent and/or abusive criticism
  • Unwarranted or excessive punishment
  • Blocking opportunities for advancement
  • Threatening loss of job or position
  • Belittling a person opinions or beliefs
  • Spreading malicious rumours or gossip
  • Assigning unreasonable duties or workloads demands.

Essentially, it is behaviour that makes the person being bullied feel vulnerable, threatened, upset or humiliated.

It can be hard to discern between a person who has an aggressive nature in a business workplace or has a poor communication skills and a bully. There is a distinct difference between a situational conflict between co-workers, which can be a normal part of workplace environment, and a person who is exhibiting bullying behaviour towards another.

Bullying can be often be categorized as:

  • Chronic – these are often the most problematic types of bullies to deal with as they have habitual, long-standing behaviour; most likely developed long before they entered the workforce.
  • Opportunistic – the type of person who is competitive, striving for a promotion or credit for work.
  • Accidental – a person who is genuinely unaware of the impact their behaviour has on others.
  • Substance Abusers – a person whose behaviour is impacted by drug and/or alcohol use or abuse.

While many personal reasons and history factor into why a person may exhibit bullying behaviour, the most important things to consider in the workplace are: how to identify it and how to rectify the situation.

What Can You Do About It?

If you are being bullied, some ways to take the first steps are:

  • Tell someone about it. Just like we tell our children, follow the same advice. Speak to a manager or human resource person within your company about your concerns. If needed, go outside your company to your local workplace health and safety organization.
  • If possible, directly address the specific behaviour and the impact of the behaviour with the person. Try to relate how their behaviour makes you feel and why it needs to stop. While this is hard step, ignoring or denying the situation will not make them go away or improve. Thoughtful and concise action is needed to rectify the situation.

Once you’ve addressed the issues, find ways to manage the impact that it has, or continues to have, on your well-being.

With direct focus and attention to the matter we can all work to stop bullying in the workplace

 

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