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Wednesday 23 July 2014

Shoulder Bursitis

What is shoulder bursitis?

A bursa is a tiny fluid-filled sac that functions as a gliding surface to reduce friction between tissues of the body. The plural of bursa is bursae. There are 160 bursae in the body. The major bursae are located adjacent to the tendons near the large joints, such as the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees.
Bursitis is inflammation of a bursa. Injury or inflammation of a bursa around the shoulder joint occurs causes shoulder bursitis.

How does a bursa become inflamed?

A bursa can become inflamed from injury, infection (rare in the shoulder), or an underlying rheumatic condition. Examples include infection of the bursa in front of the knee from a knee scraping on asphalt (septic prepatellar bursitis), inflammation of the elbow bursa from gout crystals (gouty olecranon bursitis), or injury as subtle as lifting a bag of groceries into the car, which could inflame the shoulder bursa (shoulder bursitis).

What are shoulder bursitis symptoms and signs? How is shoulder bursitis diagnosed

Bursitis is typically identified by localized pain or swelling, tenderness, and pain with motion of the tissues in the affected area. X-ray testing can sometimes detect calcifications in the bursa when bursitis has been chronic or recurrent. MRI scanning (magnetic resonance imaging) can also define bursitis. Shoulder bursitis is often accompanied by tendinitis of tendons adjacent to the affected bursa in the shoulder. Shoulder bursitis causes focal tenderness of the inflamed tissues. It can also cause a "pinching" pain when the elbow is moved away from the body, referred to as an "impingement" sign.

How is shoulder bursitis treated?

The treatment of any form of bursitis depends on whether or not it involves infection. Infection of a shoulder bursa is uncommon, and bursitis that develops there is usually from injury. Bursitis that is not infected (as from injury or an underlying rheumatic disease) can be treated with ice compresses, rest, and anti-inflammatory and pain medications. Occasionally, it requires aspiration of the bursa fluid. This procedure involves removal of the fluid with a needle and syringe under sterile conditions and can be performed in the doctor's office. Sometimes the fluid is sent to the laboratory for further analysis. Noninfectious shoulder bursitis can also be treated with an injection of cortisone medication into the swollen bursa. This is sometimes done at the same time as the aspiration procedure. Physical therapy can sometimes be used to aid the recovery from bursitis, especially when it is accompanied by a frozen shoulder.
Infectious (septic) bursitis, again which is uncommon in the shoulder, requires even further evaluation and aggressive treatment. The bursal fluid can be examined in the laboratory to identify the microbes causing the infection. Septic bursitis requires antibiotic therapy, sometimes intravenously. Repeated aspiration of the inflamed fluid may be required. Surgical drainage and removal of the infected bursa sac (bursectomy) may also be necessary. Generally, the adjacent joint functions normally after the surgical wound heals.

What is the prognosis (outlook) for shoulder bursitis?

The outlook is generally excellent for a full recovery with shoulder bursitis. If the bursitis is accompanied by scarring around the shoulder joint (adhesive capsulitis or "frozen shoulder"), it can require long-term physical therapy

Can shoulder bursitis be prevented?

By avoiding overuse of the shoulder by excessive straining the shoulder and gradual exercise training, shoulder bursitis can be prevented.
source:medicinenet.com


Wednesday 9 July 2014

Too Much Sitting Tied to Risks for Certain Cancers

Too Much Sitting Tied to Risks for Certain Cancers

Those with the most chair time had worse odds for colon, endometrial cancers, researchers suggest

WebMD News from HealthDay
By Brenda Goodman
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, June 16, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- You may want to stand up to read this.
A new study suggests that people who spend the bulk of their day sitting -- whether behind the wheel, in front of the TV or working at a computer -- appear to have an increased risk for certain kinds of cancers.
Previous studies have tied too much time spent sedentary to a variety of health problems, including heart disease, blood clots, a large waistline, higher blood sugar and insulin, generally poor physical functioning, and even early death.
For the new study, researchers zeroed in on 43 studies that specifically looked at the link between sitting and nearly 70,000 cases of cancer.
After combining the results from individual studies -- a statistical tool that helps to reveal trends in research -- there was good news and bad news.
The good news? Being sedentary did not appear to be linked to every kind of cancer. Scientists found no relationship between sitting and breast, ovarian, testicular or prostate cancers, or cancers of the stomach, esophagus and kidneys, or non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The bad news was that there did seem to be a consistent relationship between hours spent sitting and an increased risk for colon and endometrial cancers.
People who spent the most time sitting during the day had a 24 percent increased risk of getting colon cancer compared to those who logged the least number of hours in a chair, according to the study.
When the researchers looked just at time spent watching TV, the risk jumped even more. Those who clocked the most hours glued to the tube had a 54 percent increased risk of colon cancer compared to those who watched the least.
That may be because viewers tend to consume unhealthy snacks and drinks while watching TV, said study author Daniela Schmid, an epidemiologist at the University of Regensburg in Germany.
For endometrial -- or uterine -- cancer, the risks were even higher. There was a 32 percent increased risk for women who spent the most time seated compared to those who sat the least, and a 66 percent increased risk for those who watched the most TV, the study authors said.
Moreover, every two-hour increase in sitting time was linked to an 8 percent increased risk of colon cancer and a 10 percent increased risk of endometrial cancer.
The risks remained even for "active couch potatoes" -- folks who squeeze in some time at the gym but still spend most of their day off their feet. This suggests that regular exercise can't offset the risks of too much sitting, the study authors said.
The findings, published June 16 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, make sense to Dr. Graham Colditz. He's the associate director for prevention and control at Washington University's Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis.

"High blood sugar and high insulin is a clear sort of pathway to colon cancer, and we know from intervention studies that walking lowers insulin and getting up after meals lowers blood sugar compared to sitting," said Colditz, who was not involved in the research.
As for endometrial cancer, "Obesity is a phenomenally strong cause. In fact, it is the main modifiable risk factor for endometrial cancer," he said.
"So for me, the likely scenario there is that the sitting, the weight gain and obesity really go together and exacerbate the risk of endometrial cancer," he added.
Because the studies included in the review only looked at broad relationships, they can't prove that sitting, by itself, causes cancer. But the findings appeared to be remarkably consistent across studies, so Colditz thinks they should be taken seriously.
The study authors agree.
"Cutting down on TV viewing and sedentary time is just as important as becoming more active," said Schmid. "For those whose jobs require them to sit at a desk most of the day, we recommend breaking up the time spent sitting by incorporating short bouts of light activity into the daily routine," she added.
SOURCE:Web MD