What to do when you have pain in the joints of your hands and feet?

The worst pain is considered to be toothache. Although the same can be said for earaches and headaches. Joint pain is no exception. It can make a person suffer, deprive him of sleep and appetite.

The pain is sharp or dull, stabbing, aching, at night or during the day - these are all symptoms of joint disease.

Prevalence of joint pain

There is no clear pattern between the severity of joint pain and its prevalence. The knee joint can hurt more than the shoulder, elbow and hand at the same time. Sensations in the spine can be painful in widespread osteochondrosis or ankylosing spondylitis. But more often people suffer from pain in the extremities.

Both hands and feet experience significant stress throughout life - weight, action, injuries. Pain, joint pain and their deformation are inevitable with age-related changes in the musculoskeletal system.

Mechanism of pain

Why do joints hurt is a question that even a doctor can hardly answer unambiguously.

The mechanism of pain when the musculoskeletal system is damaged is quite complex. Most often, these symptoms are caused by the following processes:

1. Joint inflammation or polyarthritis.Inflammation itself triggers the production of substances that can cause pain. In addition, they increase the sensitivity of pain receptors to re-exposure. That is why the usual load on the inflamed joint leads to a sharp pain reaction.
2. Joint swelling.Its enlargement looks like a joint tumor. Edema tissues mechanically exert pressure on joint structures, causing discomfort and aggravating the severity of the process.
3. Dystrophic changes.This can be called bone and cartilage wear. With age and constant stress, joint function deteriorates. The production of synovial fluid is disturbed, and the gliding of joint surfaces becomes difficult. Their constant irritation by friction stimulates the growth of subchondral bone. Such marginal bony growths are called osteophytes and can cause real suffering to a person. They look like bumps on the joints. Osteophytes are often injured, and this causes their inflammation, completing the pathological circle.
4. Trauma and post-traumatic complications.Serious injuries: bruises, dislocations, fractures do not pass without leaving a trace. Even if the damage heals, joint pain and stiffness can remain for the rest of your life. Doctors often encounter complaints of aching pain in damaged joints. They usually get worse when the weather changes or at night.
5. Exchange disorders.Calcifications are deposited in tendons and ligaments due to metabolic disorders. Their violation leads to sharp pain syndrome.

These pathological processes in the joints develop in diseases of the musculoskeletal system.

Diseases of the musculoskeletal system

The number of joint diseases is high. There are rare forms - isolated all over the world, and there are those that are found in most people. The prevalence of these diseases explains why every person has joint pain at least occasionally.

It is important to know the main diseases of the musculoskeletal system, so that you do not ignore dangerous symptoms, but start treating and treating the disease in time.

Osteoarthritis

Doctors constantly hear from elderly patients that they have pain in the joints of the arms and legs, lower back and neck. In addition to pain, they also complain of joint deformation, difficulty walking and the inability to do homework.

These symptoms are characteristic of osteoarthritis of the joints. In the case of bone and cartilage deformation, it is called deforming osteoarthritis. Severe deforming osteoarthritis can make a person completely disabled.

Osteoarthritis affects any joint - large and small. All that matters is that they experience enough stress.

If you overload your joints, osteoarthritis will develop several years earlier, especially if there are predisposing factors. This includes:

• Constant load. It can be redundant or monotonous. Static loads play an important role in the development of arthritic changes.
• Hypothermia or overheating.
• Injuries - bruises and fractures, subluxations and dislocations.
• Excess weight. Obesity is one of the most important risk factors for the development of deforming osteoarthritis.
• Poor nutrition.
• Lack of movement.
• Infections and subsequent joint inflammation are polyarthritis.

Degenerative diseases of the shoulder girdle

The shoulder joint is the most mobile joint in the body, with the maximum range of motion. It withstands dynamic loads, so degenerative changes in the structures of the shoulder girdle are rare.

They usually develop in old age. Marginal bone growths appear and joint cartilage atrophies. If degenerative changes in the shoulder joint are pronounced, then the cause should be sought. This usually occurs due to a fracture or osteochondromatosis.

Pain in the shoulder joints is painful and constant; stiffness is often associated with degenerative changes in adjacent structures:

1. Deposition of calcifications in the supraspinatus tendon and the resulting painful arc of abduction syndrome. With this pathology, pain in the joints occurs when you try to move the shoulder along a certain arc. If you change the angle of inclination, the pain disappears.
2. Frozen shoulder syndrome. This condition is characterized by severe stiffness of the shoulder girdle. It occurs as a result of long-term immobilization of the shoulder - when applying bandages, providing rest for the arm with thoracic radiculitis.

No pronounced deformation of the elements of the shoulder girdle can be observed. Symptoms and complaints associated with damage to adjacent structures, rather than deforming osteoarthritis of the shoulder, usually come first.

Osteoarthritis of the elbow joint

The probability of developing degenerative changes in the elbow joint is low. It increases in old age and in persons engaged in certain professions. Monotonous physical activity has a negative effect on joint processes, especially when exposed to vibrations.

Deforming osteoarthritis in the elbow area is often found in tennis players, masons and miners, blacksmiths and foundry workers.

Joint pain is usually dull, aching and worsens with exercise. No significant deformation of the joints is observed. Sometimes, under the influence of provoking factors, osteoarthritis is joined by inflammation of the joints, painful swelling occurs in the elbow area, and the pain bothers you even at rest.

Deforming osteoarthritis of the hands and finger joints

In recent years, the diagnosis of osteoarthritis of the hands has become the answer to the question of why the joints of the fingers hurt at a young age. This disease is rapidly becoming younger. Already at the age of 30-35, with complaints of pain in the joints of the fingers, signs of the first stage of deforming osteoarthritis can be seen on an X-ray. The reasons for this are various:

1. There is an increasing number of professions that stress the joints of the hands and fingers - programmers, typists and simply active computer users. And mostly young people are involved in that.
2. Work in hypothermic conditions. These are tram and trolleybus drivers in winter, builders and villagers.
3. Lack of normal dynamic loads on finger joints. Few people try to do gymnastics, especially therapeutic exercises.
4. Accompanying diseases - inflammation of the joints.

The joints of the fingers and hands are deformed over time, and in the area of the phalanx, an inflammatory tumor with the development of polyarthritis can be detected. Movements in them become painful and difficult. Joint pain is intermittent at first, but then becomes constant, dull or aching.

Degenerative diseases of the feet

Leg joints are more susceptible to degeneration, because their main load is static. Weight and static loads are the main causes of the development of deforming osteoarthritis of the legs. In this area, it occurs in the following forms:

• Damage to the hip joints - coxarthrosis.
• Knee damage with the formation of gonarthrosis.
• Dystrophic foot diseases.

Coxarthrosis

Coxarthrosis is a common and dangerous disease. At first, a person pays attention to symptoms such as pain in the joints, creaking, clicking when walking. All this is transient and does not affect the quality of life much. As the disease progresses, stiffness worsens, and difficulty occurs when attempting to abduct or adduct the leg.

Joint pain can be excruciating, debilitating and bothersome at any time of the day. In the morning, my movements are restricted, I have to do hip joint exercises to separate myself.

Gonarthrosis

During life, knees experience loads that significantly exceed a person's weight. This inevitably leads to the development of degenerative processes in them. If a person suffers from obesity of at least the first or second degree, knee deformation will occur much faster. In third and fourth grade, osteoarthritis deforming is more likely to develop at a young age.

Osteoarthritis of the knee joints has its own characteristics. Why do joint pains occur so often in this area? In addition to the proliferation of bone spines and cartilage degeneration, calcium crystals are deposited in the joint cavity. A kind of calcification depot is formed. This disease is called calcium pyrophosphate crystal deposition.

At first, they can be found only in the thickness of the cartilage, then on its surface, in the joint cavity, tendons, and even muscles.

Deposition of calcium crystals worsens the course of deforming osteoarthritis. The disease manifests as an aching pain, which can develop into acute pain when the calcification is compressed. The mobility of the legs is significantly limited. In the knee area, deformed joint surfaces, bony growths are visible, dense nodes can be palpated.

Dystrophic changes in the joints of the feet

Foot joints are less susceptible to deforming osteoarthritis. An exception is the metacarpophalangeal joint of the first toe. Its deformities appear in almost every person after 55-60 years. In women, it is deformed at an earlier age. The reasons for this are the misuse of narrow, uncomfortable shoes with heels.

In addition to the discomfort and unaesthetic appearance of a deformed finger, a person experiences severe pain in the joints. As osteophytes grow, protruding bones form around the toe, making it difficult to wear even the widest shoes. Constant injuries of osteophytes cause inflammation of finger joints - polyarthritis develops. The situation can be complicated by the addition of infection.

Inflammatory diseases of the musculoskeletal system

Joint inflammation, which affects several groups of joints simultaneously, is called polyarthritis. If only one joint is inflamed, this form will be called monoarthritis. Symptoms will depend on the type of inflammation or infection that caused them:

1. Joint pain.It is often acute - burning or shooting. If the cause of arthritis is infection, the inflammation becomes purulent. In this case, the pain will be pulsating and very strong. In chronic and subacute forms, pain in the joints will resemble the variant with arthrosis.
2. Shapeshifting.In the acute process, an inflammatory tumor forms in the area of articulation, the color of the skin changes and the temperature rises. If a bacterial infection occurs, general symptoms of intoxication appear - high temperature, chills, and health deteriorates rapidly. The disease is particularly hard to bear in cases of polyarthritis.
3. Broken function.Movement in an inflamed joint is significantly limited due to pain and accumulation of fluid in the joint cavity. This swelling, like an inflammatory tumor, mechanically prevents movement.

Causes of arthritis

The causes of arthritis are varied. These diseases are usually divided into main groups:

• Contagious.They occur when the joint is directly affected by an infection, such as Lyme disease. The infection can be viral or bacterial, penetrate from the outside or from the affected adjacent organ, bone. Arthritis caused by a bacterial infection is particularly difficult.
• Reactive.In this case, the inflammatory process develops as a reaction to an infection in the past or present. This includes damage to the musculoskeletal system after flu, colds and urogenital infections. An important sign is the association with infection.
• Autoimmune.Sometimes a person's immune system begins to destroy its own cells. Manifestations of such diseases are diverse, but joint syndrome is most often the most clearly expressed. The most common autoimmune pathology is rheumatoid polyarthritis. It is characterized by severe joint deformation with persistent pain.

Autoimmune polyarthritis cannot be cured, but it must be stopped to keep the disease at an early stage.

Treatment of joint diseases

What to do if you are diagnosed with joint disease? Do I need to take medicines, antibiotics or can I limit myself to folk remedies? Only a doctor can answer all questions correctly and he will prescribe the appropriate treatment.

ethnoscience

Folk remedies have been prescribed for a long time - both by healers and by modern doctors. They are quite capable of relieving inflammation and eliminating pain, reducing swelling in the affected area.

Cabbage leaf is considered the undisputed leader among folk remedies. Applying a cold or poultice with honey to the painful joint can alleviate the inflammatory manifestations and condition. Plantain leaves, chopped mushrooms and vodka liqueurs are also used.

The arsenal of folk remedies is diverse, but you must remember that they can treat only mild forms of the disease and always under the supervision of a doctor.

Medicines

Medicines used in the treatment of joint diseases are aimed at all parts of the pathological process. Main groups of drugs:

1. Analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs.They are usually drugs from the same group. Since the main symptom of joint disease is pain, its relief is the first priority of doctors. A good effect is achieved with the use of local drugs.
2. Steroid hormones and cytostatics.It is strictly forbidden to take these medicines without a doctor's prescription. They are used for all serious autoimmune processes and are designed to alleviate specific inflammations in the body. Without hormonal drugs, it is impossible to get rid of the pain and inflammatory tumor in rheumatoid polyarthritis. They also inhibit joint deformations.
3. Antibiotics.They are prescribed if the cause of arthritis is a bacterial infection. Broad-spectrum antibiotics are used that penetrate well into bone tissue. Sometimes, if the pathogen is persistent, the doctor can treat the infection using several groups of antibiotics. This is also justified if the disease is caused by a mixed infection. It is necessary to remember that antibiotics are strong drugs with individual side effects, and to strictly follow the doctor's instructions during the treatment process.
4. Preparations that protect and restore cartilage.It is impossible to treat chronic polyarthritis and deforming osteoarthritis without chondroprotectors. For this purpose, both individual drugs - chondroitin or glucosamine - and combined ones are used. There is an extensive evidence base for the use of chondroprotectors based on many clinical trials.
5. Intra-articular injections.This is the best way to deliver the medicine directly to the site of the disease. Usually, hormonal anti-inflammatory drugs are injected into the joint cavity. In recent years, hyaluronic acid has also been used for intra-articular injections.

Physiotherapy

It is not worth treating joint diseases with medicines alone. The integrated application of physiotherapeutic techniques (magnetotherapy, electrophoresis) and physical therapy significantly increases the chances of recovery.

Orthotic devices are also used to limit movement in the affected joints. This includes orthotics and splints. The purpose of these devices is to reduce the load on the affected joint.

Surgical treatment

A radical remedy for advanced osteoarthritis is endoprosthetics. Only this method can replace the destroyed joint with a synthetic one, restoring its full range of motion.

Endoprosthesis replacement is a treatment option in situations where conservative therapy is ineffective.