Fitness & Exercise

Repetitive Motion Injuries

Next Steps Prevention

The prevention of tendinitis and bursitis is similar in most respects.

• Do adequate warm-up and cool-down maneuvers (crucial to proper tendon and bursae health).
  
  
• Avoid activity that makes your injury flare up. This will speed healing of both tendinitis and bursitis.
  
  
  • If using a hedge clipper caused you pain, avoid this activity and others like it.
    
    
  • If reaching overhead in your work has caused a repetitive motion injury, your occupational health manager may be able to redesign your job so you won't have to reach overhead.
  
  
• Practice range-of-motion exercises, especially in tendinitis. These are important to ensure minimal decrease in function.
  
  
• Use splints or bands to decrease the strain on a tendon that occurs with sporting activities, such as tennis and golf. These devices may be bought over-the-counter or obtained from your doctor.

Outlook

• Tendinitis has an excellent prognosis with proper care.
  
  
• A great majority of bursitis cases heal well.
  
  
• Repetitive bouts of bursitis may lead to long-term bursitis, which in turn may create a need for the fluid to be removed repeatedly.
  
  
• In cases in which treatment is not working, surgical removal of bursae may be necessary.

Synonyms and Keywords

overuse syndrome, cumulative trauma disorder, repetitive stress injury, repetition strain injury, tendonitis/tendinitis, tenosynovitis, bursitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, gout, rotator cuff, repetitive motion injuries