Tendinitis or Bursitis -anyone have this and what did you do?

Question

Also what type of doctor or specialist do you see for this?

I hope I didn't rip my muscle! I've been playing with pain for over a month. It came and went before that, but now I can't hit backhands or serve that well... 2 of my best shots! grrr!

Answer 1

My BF took massive doses of Vitiman A for awhile and it worked for him!

Answer 2

Hi: If I may assume that you are referring to your elbow, wrist or perhaps it's the shoulder.  No matter which part, I can share my personal experience on all.  But before I do that, I just want to make sure that you know that it is critically important to go see a sports medicine physician or an orthopaedist as soon as you can.  The risk of more severe or permanent (let's not think about that) damage to your muscle or related tissues is definitely not worth putting it off.  This is probably the best way of finding out if your problem is tendonitis, bursitis, or something else.

Now, back to my experience.  I started having pain in my inner elbow early in my tennis, er....career.  After some procastination, I went to see an orthopaedist.  He took xray and visually examine the elbow to rule out any major problem (broken bone, teared tissues...etc).  I was lucky enough to walk out with a diagnosis of 'tendonitis'.  The doctor prescribed an anti-inflamatory medication for me and sent me to a physical therapist (PT).  The PT explained to me how the different muscles around my elbow work and point out where the trouble spot was.  Each therapy session consisted of ultrasound to gently damage the tendon and then follow with ice pack and gently pass electric current through the muscle to make it contract.  The idea was to get your body accustomed to repeatedly heal itself, with some help (ice and electric current) in the beginning.  The electric current part (I don't remember the name, sorry) was really not as scary as it sounds; in fact, it was quite pleasant.  The downside to this experience--I had to stay off tennis for 3 months.

I also had a wrist problem, specifically tenditis or swelling of the 'tunnel' tissue that encase the tendons that attaches to the thumb.  The orthopaedist put me on a removable cast for a couple of months and gave me arthritis medication.   This experience was not that bad; I got used to wearing a cast after a week.  Again, had to do without tennis for about 3 months.

I now have pain in my right shoulder and have not seen a doctor yet (I know, must practice what I preach).  However, I have been resting it and working to strengthening it (exercise link below) and it feels much better after a month.  I will still see a doctor because shoulder injuries can be career-ending, just ask Patric Rafter the Australian champion who was forced to retire because of a severely torn rotator cuff.  

So, no matter which part of your arm is hurting, go see an orthopaedist or a sports medicine physician, expect to lay off tennis for a certain period, and make sure you develop a good habit of warming up that troublesome part before you play.

Best of luck