Why do joints hurt? With such questions, a large number of patients go to the doctor or try to find the answer on their own. Unfortunately, this complaint is not specific and may indicate pathology with various mechanisms and developmental causes.
We'll try to identify the most common causes of joint pain and find ways to treat common conditions.
symptom
Before analyzing the immediate causes of pain, it is necessary to understand more specifically the symptoms of disorders of the musculoskeletal system. A doctor who begins a diagnostic search will have an accurate picture of how painful the joint is - so the specialist will quickly find the cause of the disease.
Depending on the nature of the sensation, pain can be:
- pain.
- cut.
- burst.
- compression.
The intensity of pain in the arm and leg joints varies. Pain, weak pain indicates chronic disease. If the joint is sore and you feel unable to exercise, the process is acute.
Painful rhythm
The symptoms of all diseases of the hand-foot joint can be classified according to the rhythm of pain: mechanical or inflammatory. Mechanical pain has the following characteristics:
- grow in the evening.
- Morning stiffness is not typical.
- Strong feeling after exercising.
- At rest, the pain is painful or disappears completely.
- Onset - a specific type of pain at the beginning of an exercise.
Inflammatory rhythms are characteristic of arm and leg joint synovitis of various origins. Symptoms are as follows:
- Morning stiffness in some parts of the body or arms and legs for more than 30 minutes.
- Pain worsens at night and early in the morning.
- With exercise, the symptoms become less intense and the stiffness of the body subsides.
- Anti-inflammatory drugs work well in this painful rhythm caused by body stiffness and pain.
other symptoms
Depending on the cause of development, pain in the joints of the arms and legs is accompanied by certain manifestations. Why joint pain occurs can often be determined by other symptoms:
- Movement of the arms or legs is limited.
- Limbs stiff.
- Swelling of the joints in the arms and legs (swelling of the elbow).
- Localized heat and redness of the skin.
- General weakness, fever.
- Skin lesions may be seen on arms, legs, and trunk.
- performance of other organs.
Based on the symptoms that accompany the pain in the joints of the arms and legs, the doctor will determine the cause of the disorder.
joint disease
Joint pain in the arms and legs can be caused by diseases with completely different mechanisms of origin and development. However, the most common causes of such symptoms can be identified:
- Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease of cartilage and bone tissue. Joint pain is mechanical in nature, and during exacerbations, an inflammatory component is added.
- Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that involves an attack on the joints by cells of the body's own immune system. Arthralgia has a distinct inflammatory rhythm.
- Reactive arthritis is inflammation caused by infection of another organ. Often accompanied by hepatitis and urinary tract infection.
- Infectious Arthritis - Associated with the entry of microorganisms into the joints.
- Injuries and fractures. Diagnosis is not difficult due to the history of trauma.
- Injuries to ligaments and intra-articular structures. The soft structure of the joint can also cause joint pain when damaged.
- Rheumatic diseases. A large group of causes of autoimmune damage to joints: systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatism, Bechterew disease, Reiter syndrome, etc.
- Gout and other metabolic joint diseases. Often, symptoms of musculoskeletal system injuries are associated with the deposition of various pathological substances in the joints. In gout, they are urates.
- Psoriatic Arthritis - The cause of this disease is unknown. The body's antibodies affect tissues in joints, internal organs and skin. A common manifestation of the disease is dermatitis - peeling of the skin on the surface of the extensor muscles of the extremities.
This list represents the most common causes of disorders of the musculoskeletal system.
Arthralgia can also be caused by vascular and neurological disorders. The attending physician must determine the ultimate cause.
knee disease
Knee pain is one of the most commonly reported complaints by rheumatologists. Why do knees hurt? This element of the musculoskeletal system is subjected to enormous loads on the entire body every day, performs a wide range of movements and has a complex structure.
The knee joint is injured by various diseases, some of which are listed above and others that target this joint.
"Knee Injury: How to Get Rid of It? " - First, consult a doctor. Instrumental diagnosis helps find the cause of the knee injury, but makes a presumptive diagnosis based on complaints and examinations.
The most common causes of knee pain are:
- Knee Osteoarthritis - Osteoarthritis of the knee. This cause is the most common mechanism of knee pain. Joints are subjected to daily loads, which are major risk factors for arthropathy.
- Meniscal disease. The meniscus is the cartilage layer within the joint. These structures are often damaged when the knee joint is injured. The joint is severely injured due to meniscus disease, and pain occurs when you try to move. Pathological treatment is available.
- Arthritis of various origins. Knee pains with arthritis are inflammatory in nature, and they may be related to infection of the joint itself or other organs. Knee pain 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 the disease. Knee pain is accompanied by the presence of subcutaneous tophi, an increase in the level of uric acid in the blood.
- Tendon inflammation - tendonitis. Knee pain is often associated with soft tissue damage. Pain in the knee joint occurs when a tendon or ligament is minimally invasive, which is associated with a localized inflammatory response. Exercise can worsen symptoms.
- Circulatory disorder. Blood vessel thrombosis, thrombophlebitis, and varicose veins can cause knee pain. These problems often occur in postmenopausal women and in people who regularly load their joints.
- Baker's cyst and other disorders of the joint pocket. The structure of the knee joint is complex, and the synovium has varus and capsular bags. Knee pain may be due to local inflammation of the joint capsule or the accumulation of inflammatory fluid in the popliteal fossa.
- tumor. Tumors rarely affect the joint area. Most often, knee pain associated with tumor growth occurs when metastases from another organ are present in the joint. In this case, the diagnosis is known and oncological treatment is already underway.
For these and other ailments, a person's knee is injured and what to do in a particular situation, the attending physician will tell you.
Knee pain isn't always a sign of serious illness, but worrying about your health isn't superfluous.
diagnosis
Before prescribing a prescription for joint pain, a doctor needs to make a definitive diagnosis. To this end, he will perform several mandatory diagnostic procedures. Exam standards include:
- General analysis of blood and urine - will indicate the presence or absence of an inflammatory response.
- Biochemical blood tests - assess liver and kidney function, metabolic status of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
- X-ray of the affected joint. X-rays are made in multiple projections, allowing you to detect bone pathology.
Unfortunately, in most cases, these research methods are insufficient to make a diagnosis. In this case, other methods will be applied:
- Computed Tomography - Allows you to detect minimal damage to bone tissue.
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging - This method perfectly visualizes all soft tissues, including ligaments and menisci, tumors, cysts and other pathological structures.
- Joint Ultrasound - Detects abdominal and solid pathology formations and can measure blood flow velocity in blood vessels.
- Arthroscopy is the introduction of a camera into the joint cavity. One of the most accurate research methods.
- Diagnostic puncture - fluid is drawn into a syringe from the joint cavity for examination.
These diagnostic tools allow you to make the correct diagnosis with high probability. Many procedures are expensive or have contraindications, so the need for research needs to be determined individually.
treat
How to treat joints? There are tons of remedies, techniques, and folk remedies for joint pain. Your attending physician will help you choose the right treatment.
All means and methods of treatment effect can be divided into groups, which are discussed separately below.
medical treatement
For joint pain, only medication is usually used. This is not the right way, and it is better to use complex treatments. However, drugs play a key role in it.
Most commonly used drugs:
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
- Non-narcotic and opioid analgesics.
- Muscle relaxant.
- Glucocorticoids.
- chondroprotective agent.
- cytostatic.
- vitamins.
According to the help of each specific drug, the attending physician should explain to the patient.
In vascular disease, other drugs are prescribed. If you have vascular disease in the lower extremities and have injured your leg joints, what to do and what treatment to choose is up to the attending physician.
physiotherapy
Medical treatment is complemented by the use of various physical therapy procedures.
The following techniques can help relieve joint pain:
- electrophoresis.
- Acoustic swimming.
- acupuncture.
- Paraffin application.
- Roden Bath.
- Mud therapy.
- Magnetic therapy.
These and other techniques allow you to increase blood flow to the affected joint, reduce swelling, and increase the intensity of metabolic processes.
therapeutic fixation
For joint pain in the acute phase, therapeutic immobilization is usually prescribed. This approach involves wearing bandages, corsets, and orthoses on the affected joints.
You can't use a bandage for long periods of time because the muscles under the orthosis are designed to atrophy from inactivity. However, during reloads, the support of fixed products is very useful.
exercise therapy
Physiotherapy plays a key role in the treatment of any pathological process in the musculoskeletal system. Gymnastics allows you to adapt your joints to the load, restore muscle strength, improve circulation and reduce swelling.
The intensity and duration of exercise depends largely on the nature and severity of the disease. You need to start with breathing exercises and a small muscle warm-up.
Daily morning exercise for 20-30 minutes should be supplemented by aerobic exercise such as swimming and Nordic walking.
massage
The massage procedure perfectly relieves the patient's joint pain. What is the massage method used for? The procedure increases blood circulation, reduces swelling, and relieves pain. You need to entrust the implementation of this procedure to a specialist and perform a massage after a set of exercises.
Operation
The key, and sometimes only, role in the treatment of joint disease is surgical intervention. Therefore, treatment of the consequences of injury, degenerative diseases of severity, complications of joint pathology.
Surgery can be performed on a different scale: from orthopedics of the affected joint to prosthetics. Indications for intervention were determined by the patient's attending physician in conjunction with the surgeon or traumatologist.
Healing with folk remedies
Traditional medicine is still popular in our country. It should be said that treatment with folk remedies is not a proven method and is left to the patient at their own risk and risk.
For the treatment of pathologies of the musculoskeletal system, the following folk remedies are used:
- Made from bay leaf and cabbage compresses.
- Sunflower Root Soup.
- Goldenbeard's salve.
- Apply inside the eggshell.
- Made from crushed chestnuts.
- Rye grains and other grain structures in decoction form.
- cooked rice.
- baking soda.
If you decide to use one of these traditional medicine recipes, please consult your doctor first.