Why do joints hurt? With such a question, a lot of patients go to the doctor or try to find the answer on their own. Unfortunately, this complaint is not specific and may indicate a pathology with various developmental mechanisms and causes.
We will try to identify the most common causes of joint pain and figure out how to treat the common ailments.
Symptom
Before analyzing the immediate causes of pain, you should learn more specifically about the symptoms of diseases of the musculoskeletal system. The doctor, starting with the diagnostic examination, will find out exactly how painful the joints are - so the specialist will quickly find the cause of the disease.
By the nature of sensation, pain can be:
- Hurting.
- Cut.
- Boom.
- Compression.
Pain in the joints of hands and feet with varying intensity. Pain and weakness indicate chronic diseases. If the joint is very painful, the feeling is not moving, the process is acute.
Rhythm of pain
Symptoms of all diseases of the joints of the hands and feet can be divided according to the rhythm of pain: mechanical or inflammatory. Mechanical pain has the following characteristics:
- Grows in the evening.
- Morning stiffness is not typical.
- Feel strong after exercise.
- At rest, the pain may or may not be present at all.
- Initiation - a specific type of pain at the time of initiation of movement.
Inflammatory rhythms are characteristic of hand and foot bursitis of different origin. The symptoms are as follows:
- Stiffness of the body or parts of the arms and legs in the morning for more than 30 minutes.
- The pain increases at night and early in the morning.
- With movement, the symptoms become less intense, the stiffness of the body decreases.
- In the rhythm of pain caused by body stiffness and pain, anti-inflammatory drugs have a good effect.
Other symptoms
Pain in the joints of the hands and feet depends on the cause, which is accompanied by certain symptoms. Why joint pain occurs can often be identified by additional symptoms:
- Limit movement of the arms or legs.
- Legs are numb.
- Swollen hands and feet (swollen elbow joints).
- Localized fever and skin redness.
- General weakness, fever.
- Visible skin lesions on hands, feet, trunk.
- Manifestations from other organs.
Depending on the symptoms accompanying pain in the joints of the hands and feet, the doctor will determine the cause of the disease.
Joint diseases
Pain in the joints of hands and feet can be caused by completely different diseases in terms of origin and development mechanism. However, the most common causes of such symptoms can be identified:
- Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease of cartilage and bone tissue. The pain in the joints has a mechanical nature, in the period of exacerbation there will be an inflammatory component involved.
- Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system cells attack the joints. Joint pain has a pronounced inflammatory rhythm.
- Reactive arthritis is inflammation caused by an infection in another organ. Often occurs with hepatitis and urinary tract infections.
- Infective arthritis - involves the entry of bacteria into the joint.
- Injuries and fractures. Diagnosis is not difficult given the history of trauma.
- Damage to ligaments and formations in joints. The soft structures of the joints are also responsible for pain when damaged.
- Rheumatic diseases. A large group of causes of autoimmune damage to joints: systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatic diseases, Bechterew's disease, Reiter's syndrome, and others.
- Gout and other metabolic joint diseases. Most often, the symptoms of damage to the musculoskeletal system are associated with the deposition of various pathological substances in the joints. In gout, they are salts of uric acid.
- Psoriatic arthritis - the cause of this disease is still unknown. The patient's own antibodies affect joint tissues, internal organs, and skin. The frequent manifestation of the disease is dermatitis - peeling of the skin on the extensor surfaces of the extremities.
This list represents the most common causes of musculoskeletal system diseases.
Joint pain can also be caused by vascular disorders and neurological diseases. The attending physician must determine the ultimate cause.
Diseases of the knee joint
Knee pain is one of the most frequently reported complaints to rheumatologists. Why does the knee hurt? This element of the musculoskeletal system is daily subjected to a large load of the entire body, performs a wide range of movements and has a complex structure.
Knee joint pain is caused by many different diseases, some of which have been listed above, while others are specific to this joint.
"Knee pain: how to get rid of it? " - First of all, consult a doctor. Instrumental diagnosis helps figure out why the knee is painful, but a presumptive diagnosis is made on the basis of complaints and examination.
Knee pain is most commonly caused by the following:
- Gonarthrosis - osteoarthritis of the knee joint. This cause is the most common mechanism of knee pain. The joints are subjected to daily loads, which is a major risk factor for joint disease.
- Meningitis disease. Menisci are layers of cartilage inside joints. With a knee injury, it is these structures that are often damaged. The joints are severely damaged with meniscus disease, pain occurs when you try to move. Treatment of the disease is surgery.
- Arthritis has different origins. Knee pain with arthritis is inflammatory in nature, and may be related to an infection of the joint itself or another organ. Pain in the knee joint can also occur with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.
- Gout. The knee joint is not the most common site of gouty arthritis. But this joint can still be affected by disease. Knee pain accompanied by the appearance of tophi under the skin, elevated uric acid levels in the blood.
- Tendonitis - inflammation of the tendon. Pain in the knee joint is very often associated with soft tissue damage. When a minor injury occurs to a tendon or ligament, pain occurs in the knee, which is related to a local inflammatory response. Symptoms are worse with exercise.
- Circulatory disorder. Blood vessel thrombosis, thrombophlebitis, and varicose veins can cause knee pain. These problems are more common in postmenopausal women, as well as in people who frequently load joints.
- Baker's cyst and other diseases of the joint sac. The knee joint has a complex structure, the synovial membrane has deviations and pockets. Knee pain can be caused by local inflammation of the joint capsule or by accumulation of inflammatory fluid in the joint cavity.
- Tumors. Tumors rarely affect the joint area. Usually, pain in the knee related to a tumor growth occurs when there is metastasis from another organ in the joint. In this case, the diagnosis was known and treatment for the cancer was instituted.
With these and other diseases, a person's knee hurts, what to do in a particular situation, the attending physician will tell you.
Knee pain is not always a sign of a serious illness, but worrying about your health is not superfluous.
Diagnose
Before prescribing treatment for joint pain, your doctor will need to confirm a diagnosis. To do this, he will conduct a number of mandatory diagnostic procedures. Exam standards include:
- General analysis of blood and urine - will indicate the presence or absence of an inflammatory reaction.
- Biochemical blood tests - evaluate the function of the liver and kidneys, the status of protein, fat and carbohydrate metabolism.
- X-ray of the affected joints. X-rays are taken in several screenings and allow you to detect bone pathology.
Unfortunately, in most cases, these research methods are not enough to make a diagnosis. In this case, additional methods are applied:
- Computed tomography - allows you to detect even the smallest damage to bone tissue.
- Magnetic resonance imaging - perfect visualization of all soft tissues, including ciliary ligaments and cartilage, tumors, cysts and other pathological forms.
- Ultrasound of the joints - detects pathological and solid formations in the abdomen, can measure the speed of blood flow in the vessels.
- Arthroscopy is the insertion of a camera into the joint cavity. One of the most accurate research methods.
- Diagnostic puncture - a liquid is aspirated from the joint cavity into the syringe, which is examined.
These diagnostic tools allow you to make an accurate diagnosis with high probability. Many procedures are expensive or have contraindications, so the need for research is determined individually.
The treatment
How to treat joints? For joint pain, there are a large number of folk remedies, techniques and recipes. Your doctor will help you choose the right treatment.
All effective means and methods of treatment can be divided into several groups, each of which will be discussed below.
Medicines for treatment
For joint pain, drugs are often used alone. This is not the right approach, it is better to use complex treatment methods. However, in which drugs play a dominant role.
The most commonly used drugs:
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
- Non-narcotic pain relievers and opioids.
- Muscle relaxants.
- Glucocorticosteroids.
- Chondroprotectors.
- Cytostatic drugs.
- Vitamin.
From the effects of each specific drug, the attending physician should explain to the patient.
In vascular diseases, other drugs are prescribed. If you have vascular diseases of the lower extremities, and at the same time the joints of the legs are painful, what to do and what treatment option to choose is decided by the attending physician.
Physical therapy
The use of various physical therapy procedures complements the medical treatment.
The following techniques help relieve joint pain:
- Electrophoresis.
- Electrophoresis.
- Acupuncture.
- Paraffin applications.
- Rodon's bathroom.
- Mud therapy.
- Magnetic therapy.
These and other techniques allow you to increase blood flow in the affected joint, reduce swelling and increase the intensity of metabolism.
Fixed therapy
For acute joint pain, treatment with immobilization is usually indicated. This method involves wearing bandages, corsets, and orthotics over the affected joint.
You cannot use the bandage for a long time, because the muscles under the orthopedic design atrophy due to inactivity. However, during heavy loads, support from stationary products is very useful.
exercise therapy
Physiotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of any pathological process in the musculoskeletal system. Exercise allows you to adapt to the load of the joints, restore muscle strength, improve blood circulation and reduce swelling.
The intensity and duration of exercise are more or less depending on the nature and severity of the disease. You need to start the exercise with breathing exercises and warm up the small muscles.
It is recommended to supplement 20-30 minutes of morning exercise each day with swimming, Nordic walking and other aerobic activities.
Massage
Massage procedures help patients to get rid of joint pain perfectly. What is massage used for? The procedure increases blood circulation, reduces swelling, and relieves pain. You need to trust this process to a specialist and conduct a massage after completing the exercises.
Surgery
An important and sometimes unique role in the treatment of rheumatic diseases is surgical intervention. As a result, the consequences of trauma, the severity of degenerative diseases, and complications of joint diseases are treated.
Surgery can be performed for a variety of volumes: from orthopedic to prosthetics of the affected joint. Indications for intervention are determined by the patient's attending physician in conjunction with the surgeon or traumatologist.
Treatment with folk remedies
Traditional medicine formulas are still popular in our country. It should be said that treatment with folk methods is not a proven and proven method, patients use it themselves, but there are dangers and risks.
For the treatment of diseases of the musculoskeletal system, the following folk remedies are used:
- Compress from bay leaves and cabbage.
- A decoction of sunflower roots.
- Ointment from a golden mustache.
- Application inside eggshell.
- Compressed from crushed chestnuts.
- Rye cereal and other cereal structures in the form of a decoction.
- Boiled rice.
- Baking soda.
If you decide to use one of these traditional medicine formulas, consult your doctor first.