The fingers of the upper extremities play an important role in human life, helping him perform delicate work at home or during the birthing process. But inflammatory processes in thin joints are also common, especially in old age, and then movements become difficult, painful, and the phalanges of the fingers are so bent that they disfigure the hand.
When the joints of the fingers hurt, the cause and treatment are closely related. Let's take a closer look at them.
Fingers hurt - the cause of discomfort
Pain, swelling in the area of the finger joints of the hands can have various causes:
- All types of arthritis often affect the phalanges of the fingers. Then not only the bones become inflamed, but also the adjacent tissue. The pain syndrome increases not only after physical exertion, but also after a night's sleep. The mobility of the phalanges is restricted, their shape changes, reddening in the joint area is visible. In rheumatoid arthritis, the phalanges of the fingers, such as the middle and index fingers, swell and become inflamed. For example, the joint hurts first on the right, then on the left. At the same time, there are no discomforts on the right and left hands;
- Psoriatic arthritis is characterized by dysfunction of all joints, they expand, turn red. If the process is caused by infection of the components of the joint with viruses of various types, then in addition to the signs of local importance, there is a sharp increase in body temperature, accompanied by subsequent poisoning of the body. Infectious arthritis symptoms are more pronounced in children than in adults;
- With stenosing ligamentitis, the main symptoms, along with nocturnal pain, are numbness. Almost all finger joints of the upper extremities swell, the right and left hands suffer. Only in the area of the little finger is there no swelling;
- When the destruction of cartilage tissue begins, osteoarthritis, painful sensations appear after physical work, which subside at night. In this case, one joint can be damaged first, then the pain gradually covers all the phalanges of the hands. Sometimes the disease affects the base of the joint of the thumb, which then begins to deform, engaging the metacarpal bone;
- Severe pain is a sign of the development of osteomyelitis, which is manifested by the formation of a purulent-necrotic process;
- Traumatic pathologies lead to inflammation of the joint capsules, the accumulation of excess synovial fluid in them. The affected area becomes dark red, you can not touch it, as acute pain immediately pierces the finger joints;
- Sometimes the pathology manifests itself only in the fingertips. Ulnar nerve neuropathies are manifested by painful sensations in the left hand, the fingertips becoming numb and white. This is because blood flow to the fingertips is compromised and they are not being properly nourished.
- Hypothermia of the upper extremities reacts with excruciating joint pain, accompanied by cyanosis or severe reddening of the affected area;
- With inflammation of the thumb ligament, de Quervain's disease, any movement of the hand causes a painful attack;
- Common injuries to the upper extremities are dislocations, accompanied by sharp pain;
- People who spend a lot of time at a computer keyboard tend to pinch the wrist nerve, which is reflected in aching pain. Also, among professional pathologies, there are vibratory diseases, the signs of which are numbness of the fingers and painful sensations.
The reasons listed indicate that the joints of the fingers of the upper extremities are most affected by inflammatory diseases of a viral or traumatic nature.
Here's how to help your fingers when they hurt
There are several methods of treating wrists, all of which are effective in combination.
Medical procedures will reduce pain
The best part is that painful processes are eliminated through a variety of medical procedures.
Regular massage helps improve peripheral blood circulation when the joints of the hands are adequately supplied with nutrients and oxygen. You can do the procedure for one finger or all at once during a session that consists of stroking, rubbing, kneading, shaking.
Microwave therapy, when exposed to ultra-high frequency electromagnetic fields, creates conditions for blood vessels to widen, normalize the passage of nerve impulses, and reduce smooth muscle spasms. The effectiveness of the procedure is linked to its anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antispasmodic effects. Local barotherapy is performed using devices that generate high or low pressure. Usually this procedure is used to treat bone disorders related to neurological conditions when other methods do not help.
To improve metabolic processes, get rid of pain, electrophoresis can be performed, in which the necessary drugs are injected into the joints of the hands with an electric current.
Medicines are the basis of therapy when the fingers hurt
Nevertheless, one cannot do without the use of pharmaceutical preparations in the treatment of joint diseases:
- Nonsteroidal drugs help relieve swelling and relieve pain;
- If the disease is caused by a malfunction of the immune system, then powerful drugs of the prednisolone group will be needed;
- Ointments with a local anesthetic effect are useful for relieving unpleasant symptoms with mild inflammation;
- Chondroprotective drugs restore the working function of the joints.
It is possible to get rid of some of the causes of joint diseases only with antibiotics, cytostatics, hormones, in rheumatoid arthritis, hypouricemic agents that remove excess uric acid salts in gout and psoriasis.
Traditional medicine recipes will save you from pain
The main methods of joint pain relief developed by traditional healers have involved the application of compresses that rub the affected area.
- Sea salt or table salt heated in a pan, which is used as a compress for painful joints, gradually calms them down. Daily application alternating with rubbing in fir oil for a week makes you healthy.
- Compresses for diseased bones from an infusion of burdock leaves, as well as a decoction of wormwood, are used for fifteen to twenty minutes. A burdock leaf that is applied to the joints relieves discomfort.
- Grated onion groats are effectively used to treat joint discomfort with compresses. The cabbage leaf also has a beneficial effect, strengthens the components of the musculoskeletal system.
- Effective treatment - rubbing the affected area with apple cider vinegar diluted in half with water will give a positive result in a month.
- A previously prepared solution of twenty grams of celandine, one liter of olive oil, infused for two weeks, is rubbed in with massaging movements in the morning and evening.
- The same amount of honey, glycerin, alcohol and iodine is thoroughly mixed and rubbed with this mixture of diseased areas. The positive result can be felt within a week.
The systematic implementation of therapeutic measures helps keep your fingers functioning and healthy.
Recommendations for preventing joint pain
- Organizing proper nutrition can protect against skeletal system pathologies. To do this, it is necessary to limit the use of sweet, floury, high-fat dairy products, salty, spicy smoked foods. Eating seafood, vegetables, especially cauliflower, radishes, lettuce, as well as eating pomegranate, fig, ginger, adding olive and linseed oil, you can improve the condition of bones, remove excess salts and toxins from the body.
- The joints must be given rest, a variety of light work, more often to do gymnastics for them. When you work on the computer, you need to knead and shake your brushes every half an hour to improve blood microcirculation.
- When working with vibrating instruments, it is necessary to protect the hands of the extremities with tightly supporting gloves.
Taking care of your hands and preventing hypothermia will prevent pain.