Articular pains in the hand not only interfere with normal life, reduce physical activity, lead to impaired performance, but also worsen the emotional state due to constantly arising painful discomfort.
That is why, 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 variety of diseases, many of which have fairly similar symptoms.Most diseases are chronic, and the prerequisites for their development often go unnoticed.Let's find out why the joints on the fingers of one or both hands hurt.
Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a constantly 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, articular deformities (hands in the first place), subluxations, contractures;
- worsening of the state of blood vessels, damage to the lymph nodes;
- changes in the skin, nails, increased pigmentation;
- the formation of specific rheumatoid nodules;
- disorders of the heart (rheumatoid carditis);
- dystrophic changes in muscles;
- various pathologies of the kidneys (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 get arthritis about 3 times more often.
The earliest and most important symptom is a feeling of morning stiffness throughout the body, especially felt in the joints of the hands, which disappears after motor activity. At the initial stage, there may be a temporary deterioration in the general condition, when the joints of the fingers and toes periodically hurt, appetite decreases, the heartbeat increases, sweating, and a low temperature appears.
Later, the pains - primarily in the small joints of the hands and feet - intensify, especially in the morning, after sleep and when making movements.The period of morning stiffness is lengthened, which becomes painful.The mobility of the joints is increasingly limited. Pronounced inflammatory edema, hyperemia appear, the temperature of the skin 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 exacerbation, the process covers new joints.
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, pinched nerve roots and signs of other neurological symptoms. Most often, the disease is accompanied by a feeling of numbness in the fingers, but pain may be mistaken for pain in the joints.
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, features of the constitution, and sometimes vitamin imbalance.
One such disease is Kienböck's disease, which affects the wrist joint. This type of osteochondropathy is predominantly characteristic of men aged 18 to 30 years with chronic microtraumatization or overstrain of the hand (locksmiths, turners, carpenters, carpenters). Symptomatic complex includes:
- persistent pain covering fingers, wrist area;
- persistent swelling;
- increased pain when pressing on the wrist joint;
- bone destruction, subluxation of the intercarpal joints at 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 inflammation of the joints after it can explain why the fingers on the hands hurt, especially when flexed. Reactive arthritis is presumably 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 nails;
- diseases of the genitourinary, cardiovascular, lymphatic systems.
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 affects mainly men over 40, 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 high in purines and fat (meat, fish), alcohol;
- infections;
- a combination of various factors affecting uric acid metabolism.
The disease is accompanied by the development of hyperuricemia - an excess of uric acid in the blood serum, resulting in the deposition of urates 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 persistent visible deformities, stiffness, osteoarthritis, and the formation of tophi (gouty nodes).
Symptomatic exacerbation of inflammation is manifested:
- sharp pains, usually at night;
- swelling of the 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 may be a very possible explanation for why the knuckles of the fingers 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 imperceptibly, with a gradual increase in symptoms, although an acute onset is sometimes possible.You can suspect developing arthritis by 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.
The defeat of 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 diseases of the soft periarticular tissues often leads to pain in the fingers. The main factors of development are injuries, prolonged stereotypy of movements, hypothermia, dampness, infections, and often there is a lack of nutrition and blood supply.Pain can occur due to:
- tendonitis - a degenerative lesion of the tendons;
- tendovaginitis (otherwise - tenosynovitis, ligamentitis) - inflammation of the median part of the tendons, the inner lining of the vagina, extra-articular ligaments;
- bursitis - an inflammatory process in the serous bag, usually due to tendovaginitis.
In the hands, tendons of the wrist and hand are most often affected, which is associated with their almost constant functional stress.Most often, the reasons that the finger on the hand hurts over the entire surface or in the joint are syndromes caused by:
- de Quervain's disease - tendovaginitis of the tendons of the muscles 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 in the palmar ligament of the ulnar nerve and ulnar artery;
- ligamentitis of the wrist tendon;
- Knott's disease ("snapping" finger), which affects the tendons of the superficial flexors of the fingers and their sheaths;
- bursitis (tendobursitis).
Pains usually arise or increase at the 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 occurs due to 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 hurts, at 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, contractures;
- articular deformities;
- sometimes hot swelling.
Osteoarthritis is characterized by a long-term course with a gradual increase in symptoms, usually without sharp exacerbations. The main types of disease affecting the hands are osteoarthritis of the interphalangeal joints and the metacarpal joint.
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Systemic lupus erythematosus
It is an autoimmune polysyndromic disease with a chronic course, generalized vascular damage and changes in the connective tissue. It mainly affects adolescent girls and young women in their 20s and 30s.
The development of the disease can be both imperceptible and acute, sudden. The gradual onset occurs against the background of weakness, weight loss, subfebrile temperature, signs of arthritis (synovitis), minor skin manifestations. Sharp - characterized by severe pain in the joints, fever and bright rashes on the skin.Also, the disease may be accompanied by:
- hair loss, nail changes;
- sensitivity disorders;
- stomatitis;
- damage to the cardiovascular system, most often pericarditis;
- sometimes muscle atrophy (primarily of the hands), deformity of the joints of the fingers, 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 pain lie in the force created when squeezing the hand) is the basis for an examination for this disease.
Diagnostics
Since pain in the joints of the hands can be caused by a very wide range of disorders, it is necessary to establish the exact reason why the fingers are stiff, swollen and / or hurt.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 is performed, an analysis of the synovial fluid.
Treatment Methods
It is impossible to independently determine what to do if painful swelling or joints on the fingers hurt. Treatment is prescribed exclusively by a doctor after diagnosis and examination.
Medical treatment
In the event that the finger on the hand (during flexion, abduction movement, rest) hurts too much, a short-term intake of analgesics is allowed before examination by a specialist.
The joint should not be warmed, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial agents should not be taken uncontrollably.
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 exacerbation with drugs, relieve pain with painkillers, anti-inflammatory ointments, gels;
- on the normalization of metabolic, 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, resort to surgical methods of treatment.
Physiotherapy
If the exact reason why the joints of the fingers hurt is established, the main treatment is supplemented by 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 carried out using various compressions, pinches, abduction, stretching, which allows you to return mobility to the joints and sensitivity to the terminal phalanges. Joint pain that occurs in the fingers requires careful introduction of new exercises and a gradual increase in load.
Massage courses
Therapeutic massage improves tissue trophism, helps to alleviate the symptoms of the disease.However, with pain in the joints of the fingers, there are often contraindications for massage, so treatment should be carried out only with the permission of a doctor.
Folk remedies
Phytotherapy, compresses, rubbing, prepared according to folk recipes, can be useful when there are no contraindications and there is no refusal to treat with medications. They help to alleviate the condition if the fingers on the hand hurt too much and for a long time.