What happens if the hand niches stop moving and can no longer do any work? This is hard to imagine. According to statistics, more and more people suffer from pain in the joints of the fingers. If earlier these were exclusively age-related problems, now the number of hand diseases has increased, and the age of patients has expanded the boundaries.
There are more than a dozen common diseases of the fingers. Consider why the joints of the fingers hurt and the main methods of treatment.
The main factors of disease occurrence:
- pathology of the immune system;
- chronic infection;
- hormonal imbalance;
- heredity;
- all kinds of injuries and microtraumas of the hands;
- exposure to harmful factors.
Common types of hand joint diseases
Rheumatoid arthritisis a joint disease that affects even children. According to statistics, there are three women per sick man. Features of symptoms:
- symmetry of the lesions - worried about the same pain in the right and left arms;
- as the disease progresses, the pain is selected from the fingers to the wrist, elbow and other joints;
- acute attacks of pain disturb all night, and during the day the pain subsides;
- accompanying symptoms - increased body temperature, numbness of fingers, chilliness.
Gouty arthritis- a diseaserich people. It was believed that it arises from the frequent use of fatty foods and alcohol. As it turned out, the exact cause of the disease is a violation of purine metabolism, which leads to the deposition of salts. Obesity, alcohol, and leukemia are the main contributors to the disease. Most often, men over the age of 40 are ill. In the case of this disease, pain appears in the thumbs.
Sometimes gouty arthritis can be confused with rhizarthrosis. In this disease, thumbs are also affected, but the reason is excessive stress. This includes working at a computer with a keyboard, knitting, sewing,
as well as frequent written work. An x-ray will help to understand what disease has affected the joints.
Psoriatic arthritis.This disease is a component of a disease called psoriasis, in which the skin is affected. Only about 15% of patients have pain in the joints of the fingers, the reasons for this are different:
- the work of the nervous system is disrupted, the person is in constant tension, a difficult stressful situation; joint injury, with psoriasis already occurring, can lead to inflammation;
- drugs can provoke disease. Consult your doctor before using any pain reliever;
- heredity plays a big role. If it is known that someone in the family has had psoriasis, or psoriatic arthritis, there is a high probability that the younger generation will be susceptible to these diseases.
The distal phalanges of the hand are most often affected. Unlike rheumatoid arthritis, the disease is asymmetric. For example: if the thumb and index fingers hurt on the right hand, then the little finger and the ring finger hurt on the left. Or if one hand is affected, then the other is in perfect order, without signs of illness.
Osteoarthritis- dystrophic disorders of the cartilage tissue in the joints of the fingers. The reasons may be different: heredity, trauma, metabolic disorders, occupational stress on the hands, hormonal changes in women. Diseases are prone to elderly people. Often it proceeds without visible signs and sensation of pain, although sometimes you can feel that the joints ache in the morning. With the progression of the disease, pain in the joints of the hands appears. In order not to miss this disease, you should pay attention to the nail plates. At the initial stage, Heberden nodules are noticeable on the nails.
Next comes the damage to the fingers. Most often, the pain is symmetrical. Not everyone has the same pain. Some patients experience burning pain during the formation of nodules, but usually there is practically no pain. Not everyone has swelling and redness in their fingers either. When the thumb is affected, osteoarthritis is replaced by another form of the disease, rhizarthrosis.
Rhizarthrosis.The main symptom is pain in the thumb. The main causes of the disease can be: load of joints, trauma, previous infection.
Busharov's nodules- a rare form of arthrosis of the proximal interphalangeal joints of the fingers. Deformation of the joints occurs due to bone changes.
Stenosing ligamentitis- inflammation of the periarticular tissues of the hands. The disease can be mistaken for arthrosis or arthritis; an x-ray is needed for clarification. The disease is also called snapping finger disease. The sore finger bends and unbends with a click. And also the main symptoms include pain when flexing, swelling of the joints, bumps of different sizes.
Infectious arthritis- infection occurs in two ways: through damage to the skin or through blood.
Diagnosing the problem
The following doctors treat pain in the joints of the arms and legs: neurologist, rheumatologist, surgeon, hematologist, traumatologist. Pre-contact a therapist, he will conduct an examination and refer you to the doctor you need.
A visit to a doctor is inevitable in such cases:
- the joints of the fingers hurt as a result of the injury, the presence of swelling and deformation of the joint;
- hand pain does not go away after taking pain reliever;
- pain in the fingers of the right hand, as well as a temperature above normal, rash.
- joint pain lasts more than ten days;
Complete diagnostics includes:
- general blood and urine tests, sometimes, additionally a biochemical blood test;
- x-ray of both hands;
- an additional examination is ordered if other symptoms are present.
Based on the examination, test results and examination, the doctor makes a diagnosis.
Treatment for pain in the joints of the hands
After finding out why the joints hurt, proceed to treatment. Complex anti-inflammatory therapy is often prescribed. It includes such a complex of treatment: elimination of pain, removal of inflammation, normalization of blood flow, improvement of motor function. In case of infectious arthritis, the doctor will prescribe antibiotics. Correct treatment will also be fused to restore the cartilage tissue of the joints. The drugs stabilize the level of glucosamine and chondroitin - components of the articular cartilage, play an important role in the synthesis of connective tissues.
Physiotherapy occupies one of the main places in the treatment. The procedures are divided into two types of general and local action. The general applies to Vermel's electrophoresis with novocaine, microwave resonance therapy. Medicinal electrophoresis, diodynamic therapy, laser treatment, magnetotherapy - these are all topical procedures.
Dystrophic lesion of the joints of the hands requires preliminary restoration of the damaged cartilage using a chondroprotector and additional measures: therapeutic massage, manual therapy, physiotherapy.
In the period when the disease returns, doctors prescribe mud, therapeutic massages, manual therapy, and therapeutic exercises. If you are in pain, homemade ointments are prescribed, but only by appointment and prescription of the best doctor. Medicines for the period of remission are contraindicated.
Folk remedies
Please note that treatment of hand joints with folk remedies should be prescribed exclusively by a doctor:
- Maz-rescuer.To prepare the ointment, combine 20 grams of dried Caucasian hellebore herb and the same amount of honey, 5 grams of mustard powder and 10 grams of any vegetable oil.
In a small container, in a water bath, melt and stir until smooth. Allow the ointment to cool and pour into a dark jar. It is recommended to apply the ointment every day before bed. - An equally effective propolis ointment. It is necessary to mix a small piece of propolis with vegetable oil, until it becomes thick sour cream. Use as an ointment, apply each fan to your hands.
- Fruit vinegar compresses can help relieve pain.
- Rubbing with a tincture of chestnut or lilac flowers is effective. The tincture, like any other, is prepared with alcohol, put in a dark place and shaken from time to time.
- Lingonberry infusion will help relieve pain. I recommend drinking one glass twice a day as tea.
- For the medicine, take the same amount of vodka and valerian infusion. Add a couple of red pepper pods. Put in a dark place and let it brew for at least a day.
- Almost no folk remedy can do without garlic. It is difficult to list how many diseases garlic can cope with, joint pain is no exception. Garlic is recommended to be taken with warmed milk in small portions after meals; it is also fashionable to make a compress from it. An equally effective garlic tincture.
- Laurel leaves and juniper needles ointment will cope with pain in the joints of the fingers in just a month. To prepare it, grind the bay leaf and needles, and add soft butter to them. For a month, every day massage your hands with this ointment and forget about the pain.
- Another ointment recipe: mix the leaves of St. John's wort and with petroleum jelly.
- A well-proven remedy for olive oil, turpentine, alcohol, and camphor. To prepare, mix all the ingredients in equal amounts, and shake the jar of ointment well before applying.
If you have pain in the joints of the fingers, consult with your doctor and choose for yourself one or more recipes of folk remedies that are suggested above. It will take only a month, and after regular use, you will forget about the pain.
Diet
Nutrition plays an important role in health. It can both improve and worsen your condition.
Limit or eliminate the following foods:
- sweet and starchy foods;
- high fat dairy products;
- salt;
- spicy dishes;
- smoked meats;
- mayonnaise.
Eat foods such as often as possible:
- cauliflower
- all kinds of lettuce;
- grenades;
- currant;
- foods containing flaxseed oil and fish oil;
- water is an irreplaceable source of life. Follow your drinking regime, drinking at least 2 liters a day.
Therapeutic exercises for hands
Repeat the exercises 10 times every day:
- Smoothly clench your hands into fists and unclench, gradually increase the pace of the exercise;
- Spread your fingers in all directions, and then pinch;
- Use your thumb to touch all fingers of your hand;
- Starting position - palms on a hard surface, alternately raise and lower each finger without lifting the whole hand.
Prevention is better than cure
It is impossible to find such a person who you said it was good to be sick. Why think about why the joints of the fingers hurt, look for causes and treatment, if you can simply avoid the disease. In order not to get sick, it is necessary to engage in disease prevention, eat well, give up bad habits, in a word, lead a healthy lifestyle.
So that you don't think about why joints hurt and how to treat them, follow these basic tips:
- keep your hands warm:
- eliminate or minimize alcohol and tobacco in life;
- replace foods containing a lot of fats and spices with vegetables and fruits;
- Give up coffee and black tea. Drink green and herbal teas;
- under any circumstances does not tolerate colds on the legs, but go through the full course of treatment, otherwise complications may arise;
- for the prevention of diseases in the joints, exercise and swim - this has a beneficial effect on the work of the joints.
Follow the advice in this article and you will solve the problem of why joints on your fingers hurt.