Elbow (Olecranon) Bursitis | Hutaif Orthopedic Center

Symptoms and Causes

• Swelling around your elbow.
• Pain, including when you move your elbow.
• Discoloration and warmth (if the bursitis is caused by an infection).
• Causes of elbow bursitis include:
• Repetitive motions at work or during a hobby (like a baseball pitcher throwing a baseball).
• Spending a lot of time in positions that put pressure on your elbows.
• Infections.
• Traumas or a sudden blow to your elbow.
• Common activities that can lead to bursitis, such as carpentry, gardening, painting, poor posture, bone spurs or arthritis in the elbow, scrubbing, shoveling, and sports like tennis, golf, and baseball.

Diagnosis and Tests

Your healthcare provider will diagnose elbow bursitis with a physical exam. They’ll listen to your symptoms and examine your elbow. If your provider suspects your bursitis is caused by an infection (also known as septic bursitis), or if they want to rule out other causes for the pain in your elbow, you might need a few tests including X-ray, ultrasound, MRI, blood tests, or a fluid sample taken from your bursa.

Management and Treatment

How elbow bursitis is treated depends on if it’s caused by an infection. If you don’t have an infection, you’ll probably only need at-home treatments. These include resting, taking over-the-counter NSAIDs to reduce the pain and inflammation caused by bursitis, and immobilizing your elbow with a splint or brace to facilitate healing. If these treatments don’t work after three to six weeks, your provider might remove the excess fluid around your bursa (called aspiration) and give you a corticosteroid injection to reduce the inflammation. Septic bursitis is treated with antibiotics and aspiration when necessary. Surgery is rare and only necessary in severe cases.

Prevention

The best way to prevent elbow bursitis is to avoid overusing your elbow as much as possible. Give your body time to rest and recover between sessions of intense exercise or activity. If your job or hobbies require you to use your elbows a lot, make sure you’re using all the proper protective equipment, like wearingelbow pads. By taking preventative measures, you may be able to avoid developing this condition in the first place.

Outlook / Prognosis

You should expect to make a full recovery if you have elbow bursitis. Even if it’s caused by an infection, bursitis shouldn’t have any long-term impacts on your health or life. If you can do your job or schoolwork without putting stress on your elbow, you shouldn’t need to miss work or school while recovering. However, if your job or any of your activities are the cause of your bursitis, you might need to modify your routine while your elbow heals. Talk to your provider about a recovery timeline for your specific symptoms.

Living With

Make sure to give your body the time it needs to heal while you’re recovering from elbow bursitis. Don’t work or play through pain. Even if your symptoms start to improve, don’t rush back to sports or other activities, especially if they were the direct cause of your bursitis. Talk to your provider if you have any of the following symptoms: pain that interferes with your day-to-day activities, soreness that doesn’t improve in a few days, fever, discoloration, swelling or warmth around your elbow, or bursitis that comes back (recurs). If you experience trauma or any fluid is draining from your elbow, go to the emergency room right away.