Fast Relief from the Aches and Pains of Bursitis and Tendinitis.

These two conditions are the Purple Hearts of weekend warriors. Bursitis is inflammation of a bursa, a fluid-filled sac that provides padding between a muscle and the bony projection of a joint, such as a shoulder, hip, or knee.Tendinitis is inflammation of a tendon, which connects muscle to bone. (Think of the Achilles tendon, which connects your calf muscle to your heel bone.)

The most common cause of both of these problems is sudden overuse: You spend Sunday painting the den, play an extra round of golf, or clean out the attic, hauling boxes all day. The next day, you wake up with a brand-new ache. Alternative practitioners recommend trying these gentle, natural remedies instead of reaching for over-the-counter painkillers.

ICE: Massage for Soothing Relief
Ice, or specifically, ice massage, is the best treatment during the first 24 hours after the pain starts. It reduces the inflammation that is the actual source of your pain, says Rich Rieger, a licensed massage therapist in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Rieger recommends a bag of frozen peas as the best tool for the job. "The peas are like a bunch of little ice cubes inside a bag, and they can mold themselves to the exact contours of your body," he says.
Cover the bag with a thin layer of insulation such as the plastic wrap used to preserve food. The trick is to keep the bag from direct contact with your skin while keeping _the actual contact cold enough to do the job. Then start your massage.

If your knee aches, gently rub the sides of the joint with the bag of peas; that's where you'll find the tendons, says Rieger. Avoid the kneecap and the back of the knee. If your elbow aches, concentrate on the back and sides of the joint and avoid the tender inside of the elbow. For your shoulder, massage all around the joint: the top, back, front, and sides. The best technique is to rub gently and consistently just long enough for the area to become numb, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Do the massage every other hour for the first 24 hours-except, of course, while you sleep, says Rieger. After the first 24 hours, use the ice massage three times a day.

JIN SHIN DO: To Alleviate-And Prevent-Problems
Tension in the shoulders and neck is the most common cause of bursitis or tendinitis of the shoulder, arm, and wrist because those areas are some of the most tense in the body, says Deborah Valentine Smith, a licensed massage therapist and senior teacher of Jin Shin Do Bodymind Acupressure (a unique combination of acupressure, deep breathing, and visualization) in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Tension in these areas, she believes, chokes off circulation to the upper limbs. With less circulation, the body can't easily repair the excessive wear and tear that come from an unusual bout of strenuous activity (which can cause an acute form of these problems) or the normal wear and tear of everyday living (which can cause the chronic form).

Smith believes that the best way to prevent or help speed the healing of bursitis or tendinitis is to regularly ease the tension in your shoulders and neck. And the best way to do that, she says, is the Jin Shin Do shoulder and neck release.

Not only will this technique help prevent or resolve bursitis in your shoulder, says Smith, it can also help prevent or heal bursitis or tendinitis in the elbow or tendinitis in the wrist, because it sends more circulation to those areas, too.

While an acupressurist would press on specific points in the neck and shoulders, you can locate "ashi" ("where it hurts") points without knowing specific acupressure points. Here's how Smith recommends doing the release.

Lie on the floor or rest your head against the back of a chair or sofa. Close your eyes and take a deep, relaxing breath. Beginning behind your ears and moving toward your spine, use your fingertips to press into the muscles all along the base of your skull. Still breathing deeply, find the most tense or sensitive points, then press and hold those points until you feel the muscle soften or the tension ease.

Next, find the places with the most tension in the back of your neck by rubbing across the muscles, beginning under your skull and moving down to your shoulders, as shown above. When you find a tense or sensitive point, press and hold, continuing to breathe deeply, until you feel the muscle soften or the tension ease. Cross your right arm over your chest and squeeze all the big muscles along the top of your left shoulder. Again, use all of your fingers to feel for the most tense or sensitive points; then, breathing deeply into the area, press and hold until you feel a release. Repeat on the right side.