The fingers of the upper limbs play an important role in human life, helping him to do delicate work at home or during the work process. But inflammatory processes in the thin joints also occur frequently, especially in old age, and then the movements become difficult and painful, and the phalangei of the fingers are so bent that they disfigure the hand.
If the joints of the fingers hurt, the causes and treatment are closely related. Let's look at them in more detail.
The fingers hurt - the cause of discomfort
Pain and swelling in the finger joints of the hand can be caused by various reasons:
- All types of arthritis often affect the phalanges of the fingers. This is when not only the bones become inflamed, but also the tissues adjacent to them. Pain syndrome intensifies not only after physical exertion but also after night rest. The mobility of the phalanges is limited, their shape changes, the redness of the joint region is visible. In rheumatoid arthritis, the phalanges of the fingers, such as the middle and index fingers, swell and become inflamed. First, the joint hurts, for example, on the right side and then on the left hand. However, the discomfort of the right and left hands does not appear;
- Psoriatic arthritis is characterized by dysfunction of all joints, they stretch and turn red. If the process is caused by infection of the joint components with different types of viruses, a sharp rise in body temperature is added to the signals of local significance, which are accompanied by subsequent poisoning of the body. In children, the symptoms of infectious arthritis are more pronounced than in adults;
- In narrowing of the tendonitis, the main symptoms are nocturnal pain in addition to numbness. Almost all joints of the fingers of the upper limbs are swollen, and the right and left hands suffer. There is no swelling in the little finger area alone;
- When cartilage tissue destruction begins, osteoarthritis and then painful feelings appear after doing physical work, leaving overnight. In this case, one of the joints may be damaged first, and then gradually the pain will cover all the phalanges of the hand. Sometimes the disease captures the joint base of the thumb, which then begins to deform, capturing the metacarpal bone;
- Severe pain is a sign of the development of osteomyelitis, which manifests itself in the development 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 turns dark red, you cannot touch it because the joints of the fingers are immediately pierced by sharp pain;
- Sometimes the pathology only manifests in the fingertips. The neuropathies of the ulnar nerve are manifested in the painful feelings of the left hand, the fingertips numb and whiten. This is due to the fact that blood circulation is damaged in the tips of the fingers, they do not receive proper nutrition;
- Upper limb hypothermia responds with unbearable joint pain accompanied by cyanosis or severe redness of the affected area;
- With inflammation of the thumb band, but with Quervain’s disease, any movement of the hand causes a painful attack;
- Common injuries to the upper extremities include dislocations accompanied by sharp pain;
- People who spend a lot of time on a computer keyboard tend to pinch the wrist nerve, which is reflected in painful pain. Professional pathologies also include vibration disease, with signs of numbness of the fingers and painful feelings.
The reasons listed indicate that the finger joints of the upper limbs are most affected by inflammatory diseases of a viral or traumatic nature.
How can we help our fingers if they hurt
There are various methods for treating the hand joints, all of which are effective in combination.
Medical procedures reduce pain
Best of all, the painful processes are removed by various medical procedures.
Regular massage helps to improve peripheral blood circulation when the joints of the hand receive proper nutrition and oxygen. You can perform the procedure with one finger or at a time during a stroking, rubbing, kneading, or shaking session.
Microwave therapy, when exposed to ultra-high-frequency electromagnetic fields, creates conditions for vasodilation, normalization of nerve impulse passage, and reduction of smooth muscle cramps. The effectiveness of the procedure has an anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antispasmodic effect. Local barotherapy is performed with high or low pressure equipment. Generally, this procedure is used to treat bone diseases associated with neurological diseases when other methods do not help.
In order to improve the metabolic processes and eliminate the pain, electrophoresis can be performed, where the necessary drug is injected into the joints of the hand by means of the current.
Medications are the basis of therapy when your finger hurts
Nevertheless, the use of medicinal products in the treatment of joint diseases cannot be dispensed with:
- Non-steroidal medications help relieve bloating, reduce pain;
- If the disease is caused by a malfunction of the immune system, effective drugs in the prednisolone group are needed;
- Topical anesthetic ointments are useful for relieving unpleasant symptoms in minor inflammations;
- Chondroprotective drugs restore joint function.
To eliminate some causes of joint pathologies only with antibiotics, cytostatics, hormones, rheumatoid arthritis, hypouricemic agents that remove excess uric acid from gout, psoriasis.
Recipes from traditional medicine save you from pain
The main methods developed by traditional healers to relieve joint pain are by applying a compress and rubbing the affected area.
- The sea or table salt heated in the pan, which is used to compress sore joints, gradually soothes them. If applied daily, alternating with rubbing pine oil for a week, you will be healthy.
- A compress from the infusion of burdock leaves is applied to the diseased bones, as well as a decoction of wormwood for fifteen to twenty minutes. Burdock leaf applied to the joints relieves discomfort.
- Jelly from grated onions is effectively used to treat joint diseases with compresses. Cabbage leaves also have a beneficial effect, strengthening the components of the musculoskeletal system.
- Effective treatment - rub the affected area with apple cider vinegar, half diluted with water, after a month gives a positive result.
- Rub the pre-prepared solution of twenty grams of celandine, one liter of olive oil infused for two weeks, in massage movements in the morning and evening.
- The same honey, glycerin, alcohol, iodine are thoroughly mixed, rubbed with this mixture of diseased areas. The positive result will be felt within a week.
Systematic implementation of therapeutic measures promotes finger function and health.
Recommendations for the prevention of joint pain
- Organizing proper nutrition can save the pathologies of the skeletal system. To do this, the use of sweet, flour, high-fat dairy products, salty, spicy smoked foods should be restricted. If you eat seafood, vegetables, especially cauliflower, radish, salad, as well as pomegranate, figs, ginger, add olive oil, flaxseed oil, you can improve the condition of bones, remove excess salts and toxins from the body.
- The joints need to rest, do a variety of light work, more often to do gymnastics for them. If you work on a computer, you need to knead every half hour, shaking the brushes to improve blood microcirculation.
- When working with vibrating instruments, the hands of the limbs should be protected with tight-fitting gloves.
Care of the hands, prevention of hypothermia prevents pain.