Joint pain in the hand not only interferes with normal life, reduces physical activity, leads to impaired performance, but also worsens the emotional state due to the painful discomfort that arises constantly.
Therefore, when a person has pain in the joints of the fingers, the first thing that interests him is the causes of this phenomenon and a possible treatment.
Causes of pain
Pain in the hand can be caused by a number of diseases, many of which have very similar symptoms.Most diseases are chronic, and the prerequisites for their development often go unnoticed.Let's find out why the joints in the fingers of one or both hands hurt.
Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a continuously progressive connective tissue disease that affects the joints (mainly peripheral). Due to chronic inflammation of the synovial membrane, cartilage destruction occurs. Periarticular tissues are affected. Pathology develops as a result of immune autoaggression.The clinical picture is characterized by:
- destruction of cartilage tissue;
- osteoporosis;
- pain, joint deformities (hands in the first place), subluxations, contractures;
- deterioration of blood vessels, damage to lymph nodes;
- changes in the skin, nails, increased pigmentation;
- the formation of specific rheumatoid joints;
- heart disorders (rheumatoid carditis);
- dystrophic changes in muscles;
- various kidney pathologies (most often amyloidosis), liver;
- functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract;
- neurological disorders, rheumatoid neuropathy.
The disease can be caused by infections, hypothermia, trauma, physical or nervous strain.There is a genetic predisposition to the disease.Women suffer from arthritis about 3 times more often.
The earliest and most important symptom is the feeling of morning stiffness in the whole body, especially felt in the wrists, which disappears after physical activity. In the initial stage, there may be a temporary worsening of the general condition, when the joints of the fingers and feet periodically hurt, the appetite decreases, the heart rate increases, sweating and a low temperature appears.
Later, the pain - mainly in the small joints of the hands and feet - intensifies, especially in the morning, after sleep and when you move.The period of morning stiffness is prolonged, which becomes painful.Joint mobility is increasingly limited. Pronounced inflammatory edema appears, hyperemia, skin temperature rises above the site of inflammation, fever begins.
Rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by alternating periods of exacerbations and remissions, sometimes long - for months and even years. With each deterioration, the process covers new nodes.
Osteochondrosis
Osteochondrosis of the spine leads to lumbago in the back, neck, neurovascular disorders, the formation of herniated discs, impaired blood flow in the vertebral arteries, compression of nerve roots and signs of other neurological symptoms. Most often, the disease is accompanied by a feeling of numbness in the fingers, but the pain can be confused with joint pain.
Osteochondropathy. Kienböck's disease
Pain in the fingers can be caused by osteochondropathy - necrosis of bone tissue caused by increased mechanical stress, mainly in childhood and adolescence. In adults, the disease is diagnosed less often.The development of pathology is provoked by injuries, functional overload, infections, rapid growth in children, constitutional features and sometimes vitamin imbalance.
One such disease is Kienböck's disease, which affects the wrist joint. This type of osteochondropathy is mainly characteristic of men aged 18 to 30 years with chronic microtraumatization or overuse of the hand (locksmith, turner, carpenter, joiner). The symptomatic complex includes:
- constant pain covering the fingers, wrist area;
- persistent swelling;
- increased pain when pressing the joint of the wrist;
- destruction of bones, subluxation of the intercarpal joints in the final stage of the disease.
The process, as a rule, affects only one side.
Reactive arthritis
A recent infectious disease (1-1, 5 months ago) and the development of joint inflammation after it can explain why the fingers on the hands hurt, especially when bending. Reactive arthritis is apparently the result of an immune response to microbial antigens located outside the joint, which causes the development of immunocomplex synovitis in the synovial membrane.
The symptomatology of the disease is expressed:
- pain in the affected joints, tendons;
- deterioration of the skin condition, changes in the nails;
- diseases of the genitourinary, cardiovascular, lymphatic system.
The clinic of reactive arthritis is diverse and depends on the causative agent of the infection: streptococcus, salmonella, meningococcus, shigella and many others.
gout
Gout belongs to the group of metabolic arthritis - diseases of the musculoskeletal system caused by metabolic disorders, in this case - uric acid. The disease mainly affects men over 40 years old, but it is possible to develop gout in young people 20-30 years old, in menopausal women.
Violation of purine metabolism can be caused by:
- increased synthesis due to a genetically inherited feature;
- kidney failure;
- some blood diseases;
- taking medications;
- significant consumption of foods rich in purines and fat (meat, fish), alcohol;
- infections;
- a combination of various factors affecting uric acid metabolism.
The disease is associated with the development of hyperuricemia - an excess of uric acid in the blood serum, resulting in the deposition of urate in the tissues of the joints.
Gout is characterized by an attack-like course with the involvement of an increasing number of joints and tendons in the process, the gradual appearance of visible persistent deformations, stiffness, osteoarthritis and the formation of tophi (gout joints).
Symptomatic worsening of inflammation manifests itself:
- severe pain, usually at night;
- swelling of joints, hyperemia;
- weakness, fever, chills;
- increased nervousness;
- stool disorders.
The localization of gouty arthritis in the small joints of the hands is atypical. However, gout can be a very likely explanation for why your knuckles hurt.
Psoriatic arthritis
Patients with psoriasis often develop chronic inflammation - psoriatic arthritis, the classic form of which is considered to be damage to the joints of the hands and feet. The disease usually develops invisibly, with a gradual increase in symptoms, although an acute onset is sometimes possible.You can suspect the development of arthritis from the following signs:
- the joints of the fingers and feet hurt in the morning or throughout the day;
- there is painful swelling;
- the skin over the joint becomes cyanotic;
- trophic changes occur.
Damage to the joints in the future becomes the cause of deformation of the fingers, contractures, leads to the development of chronic synovitis, arthrosis.
Extra-articular rheumatism
Extra-articular rheumatism in the form of periarticular soft tissue diseases often leads to pain in the fingers. The main development factors are injuries, prolonged stereotypy of movements, hypothermia, humidity, infections, and there is often a lack of nutrition and blood supply.Pain can occur due to:
- tendonitis - a degenerative lesion of tendons;
- tendovaginitis (otherwise - tenosynovitis, ligamentitis) - inflammation of the middle part of the tendons, the inner lining of the vagina, extra-articular ligaments;
- bursitis - an inflammatory process in the serous sac, usually due to tendovaginitis.
In the hands, the tendons of the wrist and hand are affected more often, which is associated with their almost constant functional stress.Most often, the reasons that the finger on the hand hurts on the entire surface or in the joint are syndromes caused by:
- de Quervain's disease - tendovaginitis of the muscle tendons responsible for abduction and extension of the thumb;
- carpal tunnel syndrome - tendovaginitis of the flexors of the fingers, often combined with Guyon's canal syndrome - compression of the palmar ligament of the ulnar nerve and ulnar artery;
- tendonitis of the wrist;
- Knott's disease ("tipped" finger), which affects the tendons of the superficial flexors of the fingers and their sheaths;
- bursit (tendobursit).
Pains usually arise or increase during movement, disturb at night.There may be swelling, stiffness and sensory disturbances.
Osteoarthritis
Degenerative-dystrophic processes in the articular cartilage with the formation of osteophytes - osteoporosis - are the most common variant of articular pathology, the frequency of which increases with age. It happens for two reasons: increased mechanical impact on the joint and deterioration of the cartilage.
Damage to the joints of the hands leads to the fact that the finger or the entire palm of the hand hurts, first only when bending, significant physical exertion, and then even at rest, in the morning, sometimes at night.In addition, the disease is accompanied by:
- stiffness, contracture;
- articular deformities;
- sometimes hot swelling.
Osteoarthritis is characterized by a long-term course with a gradual increase in symptoms, usually without acute exacerbations. The main types of diseases that affect the hands are osteoarthritis of the interphalangeal joints and the metacarpal joint.
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Systemic lupus erythematosus
It is a polysyndromic autoimmune disease with a chronic course, general vascular damage and changes in the connective tissue. It mainly affects teenage girls and young women in their 20s and 30s.
The development of the disease can be invisible and acute, unexpected. The gradual onset occurs against the background of weakness, weight loss, subfebrile temperature, signs of arthritis (synovitis), minor skin manifestations. Acute - characterized by severe pain in the joints, fever and bright reddening of the skin.Also, the disease can be accompanied by:
- hair loss, nail changes;
- sensitivity disorders;
- stomatitis;
- damage to the cardiovascular system, most often pericarditis;
- sometimes muscle atrophy (mainly hands), deformation of finger joints, wrist, ankle;
- pulmonary pathologies (pneumonitis, candidiasis, tuberculosis, etc. );
- kidney damage (lupus glomerulonephritis);
- vegetative and emotional disorders;
- decreased intelligence, hallucinations, convulsions.
Arthritis is the most common symptom of systemic lupus erythematosus.
That is why the appearance of skin erythema and discomfort caused by the fact that the joints of the fingers hurt (especially if the causes of the pain lie in the force created during the handshake) is the basis for an examination for this disease.
Diagnosing
Since pain in the joints of the hands can be caused by a very wide range of disorders, it is necessary to determine the exact reason why the fingers are stiff, swollen and/or sore.The diagnosis is made using the following studies:
- radiography;
- scintigraphy;
- ultrasound examination;
- magnetic resonance or computed tomography;
- immunological tests;
- laboratory analysis of blood, urine.
If necessary, for an accurate diagnosis of the causes of joint pain in the fingers, a tissue biopsy, an analysis of the synovial fluid is performed.
Methods of Treatment
It is impossible to independently determine what to do if the painful swelling or the joints in the fingers hurt. Treatment is prescribed exclusively by a doctor after diagnosis and examination.
Medical treatment
In case the finger on the hand (during bending, abduction movement, rest) hurts a lot, a short-term intake of analgesics is allowed before the examination by a specialist.
This joint should not be heated, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial agents should not be taken in an uncontrolled manner.
You can use an ointment that relieves acute pain in the joints of the fingers.
Further therapy depends on the disease and is usually complex.Treatment is directed to:
- to relieve aggravation with drugs, to relieve pain with painkillers, anti-inflammatory ointments, gels;
- for the normalization of metabolic and immune processes;
- to restore blood supply, improve joint nutrition, increase its functionality.
The therapy of syndromes that have developed against the background of the underlying pathology is carried out. Blood purification procedures are used: plasmapheresis, hemosorption. In severe cases, use surgical methods of treatment.
Physiotherapy
If the exact reason why the finger joints hurt is determined, the main treatment is supplemented with various physiotherapeutic procedures and balneotherapy methods: electrophoresis, mud applications, amplipulse therapy and others.
Physiotherapy improves metabolic processes, normalizes blood circulation in the fingers.
Physiotherapy
Basic therapy necessarily includes unloading the joint, however, it is necessary to restore the range of motion. To correct motor disorders of the fingers on the hands, gymnastics is performed using various compressions, peaks, abduction, stretching, which allows you to return mobility to the joints and sensitivity to the terminal phalanges. Joint pain that appears in the fingers requires careful introduction of new exercises and a gradual increase in load.
Massage courses
Therapeutic massage improves tissue trophism, helps alleviate symptoms of the disease.However, with pain in the joints of the fingers, there are often contraindications for massage, so the treatment should be carried out only with the permission of the doctor.
Folk remedies
Phytotherapy, compresses, rubbing, prepared according to folk recipes, can be useful when there are no contraindications and treatment with medications is not refused. They help to relieve the condition if the fingers on the hand hurt a lot and for a long time.