Can Having a Large Breast Size Cause Tendonitis And/or Bursitis?

RE - "My surgeon's nurse thinks that the pain in my shoulder and arm may have been a symptom from my large breasts (38 DDD). This pain happened out of no where while I was sitting and hurt tot he point that I had to go to the ER and was given a sling. I am waiting to meet with my orthopedic doctor again because we were never clear about why the pain and fluid on the shoulder (shown on the MRI) occurred suddenly, but he thought it was tendinitis and bursitis."

Large breasts (Macromastia) have been associated with pain in the neck, shoulders and upper back. They limit women's ability to run and engage in many physical activities. It has been further shown that surgically reducing such large breasts has ion many cases reduced or eliminated such discomfort. That being said I have never seen a true bursitis or tendinitis associated with large breasts. These conditions are seen with hard repetitive injury and stress to the (?biceps) tendon and is seen in occupations such as pitchers etc. For this reason, even if you have large breasts, I would have this worked up by a good Orthopedic surgeon to make sure there is no OTHER explanation for the pain. In most cases, these are treated with rest and anti inflammatory drugs.

Good Luck.

Dr. Peter A Aldea

The presents of large breasts can be symptomatic.  However, there are varying degrees of large.  Also many men and small breasted women have these same symptoms.  The place to start would be with an orthopedic surgeon and probably some CT or MRI scan.  Good luck