So what is bursitis exactly? An ‘itis’ is latin for inflammation. So bursitis is a swollen bursa. Bursa are fluid filled sacks that act as buffers between bone and the surrounding musculature and we have them all through our bodies. They become inflamed from repetitive or chronic compression. The relevant bursitis is called greater trochanteric bursitis. The hip joint is comprised of the pelvis and the femur. The femur has a bony protuberance (the bump that sticks out in your hip) called the greater trochanter. On the surface of the greater trochanter there is a bursa, and then beyond that, there is the thick tissue of the iliotibial band (IT band). When you hip slides, your femur moves into an adducted position. The greater trochanter is now pushing the bursa into the dense and nearly immobile IT band. Let’s say you are a great golfer and regularly shoot a 70. Roughly half of those may be full swings. Factor in practice and warm ups, and you are probably ramming that bursa between a rock and a hard place 100 times a day. If you golf 3 days a week, that 300 cycles. 1200 for the month. You see where this is going. The bursa stands no chance against that kind of persistent compression.

So what can be done about this? It’s a two pronged attack. You have to fix the mechanic in the swing which means you need the right coaching and feedback. You also have to fix the underlying mechanism which means improving spinal rotation and hip internal rotation.

To improve spinal rotation, we are really talking about lumbar and thoracic rotation. First assess what you have. Sit in a chair (so that your hips aren’t part of this assessment), cross you arms on your chest. Are you able to pivot about 45 degrees? Less than that is not enough, so you’ll have to start some daily mobility exercises. It’s recommended to perform each exercise for about 2 minutes per day.