Bursitis of the Elbow (Student Elbow) Health Video

Video Transcript

CAROLYN COOPER, MD: I'm Dr. Carolyn Cooper and I'm going to be talking about student's elbow also known as olecranon bursitis, also known as Popeye elbow. This is inflammation of a small fluid-filled sac on the tip of the elbow. A bursa is a fluid-filled sac and they occur in the body wherever skin, or muscle or tendon needs to slide over bone. So they're a protective cushion and the olecranon bursa lies at the point of the elbow over the tip of the ulnar bone and usually you can't feel it at all. Olecranon bursitis occurs when there's been a direct blow or fall or trauma to the point of the elbow which causes inflammation and bleeding inside the bursal sac and it swells up like filling up a balloon with water. Chronic olecranon bursitis which can occur over a period of time and is caused by repetitive minor trauma to the elbow, like leaning upon your elbows to get yourself out of bed or leaning repetitively on your elbows on a hard surface, hence the name student's elbow. And the symptoms of olecranon bursitis are swelling on the point of the elbow, acute tenderness, too tender to put your elbow down on anything, and a lump at the end of the elbow. The diagnosis is purely clinical made by the history of acute trauma or repetitive trauma to the elbow. There are other conditions like gout and rheumatoid arthritis that can also cause olecranon bursitis but that's treated differently and is a different process. Treatment of olecranon bursitis is purely pain relief, avoiding the activities that cause the trauma, icing, and using nonsteroidal antiinflammatory mediations. Occasionally, fluid may be aspirated or sucked out of the fluid-filled cyst to relieve the pressure and relieve pain, and sometimes a hydrocortisone or steroid is injected into the bursa to promote more anti-inflammatory agent to relieve pain and reduce the swelling more quickly. Prevention of olecranon bursitis is avoiding such activities that can cause repetitive trauma to the elbow.