Diagnosis

After reviewing your symptoms and recent activities, your doctor will examine you and press on the painful area to determine whether the pain is located over bursa. Typically, your doctor will be able to move the joint through it normal range of motion, but if you try to move the joint yourself, you may not be able to move it as far because of pain. Your doctor also may order X-rays to check for other conditions. If you have bursitis, the X-rays usually will be normal. If your doctor suspects that gout or an infection is causing your bursitis, he or she may recommend that you have a test in which a sample of the fluid is removed from the bursa for analysis. This is a minor procedure.

Expected Duration

Bursitis usually lasts for only days or weeks, but it can last months or years, especially if the cause, such as overuse, is not identified or changed.