Why do my joints hurt? With such a question, a large number of patients go to the doctor or try to find the answer themselves. Unfortunately, this ailment is not specific and may indicate pathology with different mechanisms and causes of development.
We will try to identify the most common causes of joint pain and learn how to treat common diseases.
Symptoms
Before analyzing the immediate causes of pain, it is worth learning in more detail about the symptoms of diseases of the musculoskeletal system. By starting a diagnostic test, your doctor will find out exactly how your joints hurt - so a specialist will quickly find the causes of the disease.
By the nature of sensation, pain can be:
- Aching.
- Cutting.
- Shooting.
- Compressive.
Pain in the joints of the hands and feet are of varying intensity. Painful, mild pain indicates chronic diseases. If the joints are very sore, the sensations do not allow movement, then the process is acute.
Rhythm of pain
The 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:
- It grows in the evening.
- Morning stiffness is not typical.
- It feels strong after exercise.
- At rest, the pain is painful or completely absent.
- Starting - a special type of pain at the beginning of the movement.
Inflammatory rhythm is characteristic of synovitis of the joints of the hands and feet of various origins. The symptoms are as follows:
- Morning stiffness of the body or parts of the arms and legs for more than 30 minutes.
- The pain intensifies at night and early in the morning.
- With movements the symptoms become less intense, the stiffness of the body subsides.
- In this rhythm of pain from body stiffness and pain, anti-inflammatory drugs work well.
Other symptoms
Pain in the joints of the hands and feet, depending on the cause of development, is accompanied by certain manifestations. Why joint pain occurs can often be determined by additional symptoms:
- Restricted movement of arms or legs.
- Limb stiffness.
- Swelling in the joints of the arms and legs (swelling in the elbow joint).
- Local temperature and redness of the skin.
- General weakness, fever.
- Visible skin lesions on arms, legs, torso.
- Manifestations from other organs.
Depending on which symptoms accompany the pain in the joints of the arms and legs, the doctor will determine why the disease occurred.
Diseases of the joints
Pain in the joints of the hands and feet can be caused by diseases that are of a completely different origin and mechanism of development. 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 is of a mechanical nature, in the period of exacerbation the inflammatory component joins.
- Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease associated with an attack on the joint by the body's own immune system cells. Joint pain has a clear inflammatory rhythm.
- Reactive arthritis is an inflammation caused by an infection of another organ. It often occurs in hepatitis and urinary tract infections.
- Infectious arthritis - associated with the entry of microbes into the joint.
- Injuries and fractures. The diagnosis is not difficult due to the presence of a history of trauma.
- Damage to ligaments and intra-articular formations. The soft structures of the joints also cause pain in the joints when they are damaged.
- Rheumatic diseases. A large group of causes that cause autoimmune damage to the joints: systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatism, Bechterew's disease, Reiter's syndrome and others.
- Gout and other metabolic arthropathies. Often, the symptoms of damage to the musculoskeletal system are associated with the deposition of various pathological substances in the joints. In gout, there are salts of uric acid.
- Psoriatic arthritis - the cause of this disease is unknown. Antibodies of one's own body affect the tissues of the joints, internal organs and skin. A common manifestation of the disease is dermatitis - peeling of the skin on the extensor surfaces of the limbs.
This list represents the most common causes of diseases of the musculoskeletal system.
Joint pain can be caused by both vascular disorders and neurological diseases. The final cause must be determined by the attending physician.
Diseases of the knee joints
Knee pain is one of the most common complaints of rheumatologists. Why does the knee hurt? This element of the musculoskeletal system withstands enormous loads of the whole body on a daily basis, performs a wide range of motion and has a complex structure.
The knee joint hurts in various diseases, some of which are already listed, others are specific to this joint.
"Knees hurt: how to get rid of them? " - First of all, consult a doctor. Instrumental diagnostics helps to find out why the knees hurt, but based on complaints and examinations, a presumptive diagnosis is made.
Knee joint pain most often occurs for the following reasons:
- Gonarthrosis - osteoarthritis of the knee joint. This cause is the most common mechanism for knee pain. The articulation is exposed to daily loads which are the main risk factor for arthrosis.
- Meniscopathy. The menisci are the layers of cartilage inside the joint. When a knee injury occurs, these structures are often damaged. Joints hurt a lot with meniscopy, there is pain when trying to move. Treatment of the pathology is operative.
- Arthritis of various origins. Pain in the knee joint with arthritis is inflammatory in nature, it can be associated with infection of the joint itself or some other organ. Knee joint pain can also occur in rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.
- Gout. The knee joint is not the most common localization of gouty arthritis. But this joint can still be affected by the disease. Knee pain is accompanied by the presence of subcutaneous tofu, an increase in uric acid levels in the blood.
- Inflammation of the tendon - tendonitis. Knee joint pain is very often associated with soft tissue damage. When microtrauma occurs in a tendon or ligament, knee pain occurs, it is associated with a local inflammatory reaction. Symptoms worsen with exercise.
- Circulatory disorders. Vascular thrombosis, thrombophlebitis, varicose veins can cause knee pain. These problems often occur in postmenopausal women, as well as in people who often burden the joint.
- Baker's cyst and other diseases of the joint capsule. The knee joint has a complex structure, his synovium has bandages and pockets. Knee pain can be caused by local inflammation of the joint capsule or accumulation of inflammatory fluid in the popliteal space.
- Tumors. Neoplasms rarely affect the articulation area. Knee pain associated with tumor growth most commonly occurs when there are metastases from another organ in the joint. In this case, the diagnosis is known, and the oncology is already being treated.
With these and other diseases, a person's knees hurt, what to do in a certain situation will be told to you by the attending physician.
Knee pain is not always a sign of serious pathology, but taking care of your health is not superfluous.
Diagnosis
Before prescribing treatment for joint pain, your doctor will need to make a final diagnosis. In order to do that, he will perform several obligatory diagnostic procedures. The survey standard includes:
- General analysis of blood and urine - will indicate the presence or absence of an inflammatory reaction.
- Biochemical blood test - assesses the function of the liver and kidneys, the state of metabolism of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
- X-ray of affected joints. X-rays are performed in several projections and allow you to detect bone pathology.
Unfortunately, in most cases, these research methods become insufficient to make a diagnosis. In this case, additional techniques are used:
- Computed tomography - allows you to detect even the slightest damage to bone tissue.
- Magnetic resonance imaging - the method perfectly visualizes all soft tissues, including ligaments and menisci, tumors, cysts and other pathological formations.
- Ultrasound of the joints - detects abdominal and solid pathological formations, can measure the speed of blood flow in the veins.
- Arthroscopy is the introduction of a camera into the joint cavity. One of the most accurate research methods.
- Diagnostic puncture - fluid is drawn from the joint cavity into a syringe, which is examined.
These diagnostic tools allow you to make a correct diagnosis with a high probability. Many procedures are expensive or have contraindications, so the need for research is determined individually.
Treatment
How to treat joints? There are a number of remedies, techniques and folk recipes for joint pain. The doctor will help you choose the right methods of therapy.
All means and methods of therapeutic action can be divided into several groups, each of which will be discussed below.
Drug treatment
Medications are often used exclusively for joint pain. This is not the right approach, it is better to use a complex treatment. In which, however, drugs play a key role.
Commonly used drugs:
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
- Non-narcotic and opioid analgesics.
- Muscle relaxants.
- Glucocorticosteroids.
- Chondroprotectors.
- Cytostatics.
- Vitamins.
What each particular medication helps, the doctor should explain to the patient.
Other drugs are prescribed for vascular diseases. If you have diseases of the blood vessels of the lower extremities, and at the same time the ankles hurt, what to do and which treatment to choose, the doctor decides.
Physiotherapy
Medical treatment is complemented by the application of various physiotherapeutic procedures.
The following techniques help with joint pain:
- Electrophoresis.
- Phonophoresis.
- Acupuncture.
- Paraffin applications.
- Rodon baths.
- Mud therapy.
- Magnetotherapy.
These and other techniques allow you to increase blood flow to the affected joint, alleviate swelling and increase the intensity of metabolic processes.
Therapeutic immobilization
Therapeutic immobilization is often prescribed for joint pain in the acute period. This method involves wearing bandages, corsets and orthoses on the affected joint.
You can't use the bandage for a long time, because the muscles under the orthopedic design atrophy from inactivity. However, during heavy loads, support from immobilizing products is very useful.
exercise therapy
Physical therapy plays a key role in the treatment of any pathological process in the musculoskeletal system. Gymnastics allows you to adjust the load to the joint, restore muscle strength, improve blood circulation and alleviate swelling.
The intensity and time of exercise largely depend on the nature and severity of the disease. You need to start the exercises with breathing exercises and warming up the small muscles.
Morning exercises lasting 20-30 minutes a day should be supplemented with swimming, Nordic walking and other aerobic activities.
Massage
Massage procedures perfectly relieve the patient from joint pain. What is the massage method used for? The procedures increase blood circulation, alleviate swelling, and reduce pain. You need to entrust the implementation of this procedure to a specialist and undergo a massage after performing a set of exercises.
Operation
The key, and sometimes the only role in the treatment of joint pathology is surgical intervention. This is how the consequences of injuries, severe degrees of degenerative diseases, complications of joint pathology are treated.
The operation can be performed in different quantities: from plastic to prosthetics of the affected joint. Indications for intervention are determined by the attending physician together with the surgeon or traumatologist.
Treatment with folk remedies
Recipes of traditional medicine are still popular in our country. It should be said that treatment with folk remedies is not a proven and proven method, and patients use it at their own risk.
The following folk remedies are used to treat pathology of the musculoskeletal system:
- Wraps of bay leaf and cabbage.
- Sunflower root decoctions.
- Golden mustache ointment.
- Application inside the egg shell.
- Ground chestnut wraps.
- Rye grains and other cereal structures in the form of decoctions.
- Cooked rice.
- Soda.
If you decide on one of the recipes of traditional medicine, first consult your doctor.