Do I have bursitis or tendinitisor both?
“itis” is Latin for inflammation. When you see that on the end of any word a doctor uses it means that this structure is inflamed. Tendonitis then means inflammation of the tendon and bursitis means inflammation of the bursa. A bursa is a small sac of fluid that serves to cushion the impact of tendons as they pass over bones. These bursae occur in many sites around the body: elbow, knee, hip, shoulder, etc. Like the tendon, the bursa may become inflamed and increase in size. The shoulder bursa lies on top of the rotator cuff tendon and it too can be pinched between the shoulder bones. Most commonly with impingement syndrome the tendon and the bursa become inflamed together and most often you have both bursitis and tendonitis together as a result of impingement.
