Over the past few decades, not only the elderly have complained about joint pain, but also that category of people whose age has barely reached 35 years. Why this happens, there is no exact information, however, the problem is becoming more and more urgent every year and puzzles an increasing number of people.
Introduction
If the joints hurt, then you should not attribute the problem to factors such as weather changes, magnetic storms, hypothermia, hard physical labor. This problem has completely different causes.
So, why do joints hurt, what causes joint pain can be, how to treat diseased joints - this article is about all this.
Painful joints can express themselves in different ways: at first it can be just unpleasant sensations, then crackling (crunching), after numbness and numbness, and only then the pain begins to manifest itself in different ways: backache, sipping, burning. Joint pain is not a harmless phenomenon, and its causes can be very different.
Causes of pain
Why there may be pain in the joint, is judged by the nature of the pain and the place of its localization.
- With infectious diseases (tonsillitis, bronchitis), pain in the joint is pulling, aching, as a rule, not one joint suffers, but several at once.
- During intoxication of the body (for example, in case of poisoning with mushrooms, alcohol), aching pains affect several joints at once.
- With exacerbation of chronic diseases (cholecystitis, tonsillitis), joint pains are of a flowing nature, that is, they can occur in one place and move to another.
- In inflammation, the pain in the joints is acute, it shoots and pierces. As a rule, one joint hurts, in rare cases - several.
Thus, the causes of joint pain can be different: infectious, inflammatory, intoxication and chronic. At the same time, if the cause is not of a traumatological, rheumatological, or orthopedic nature, then joint pain is far from the only symptom that will disturb. Other signs of human ill health will be mixed with them:
- Increase in body temperature;
- Fever;
- Runny nose;
- tearing;
- Loss of appetite;
- Rattling in the chest;
- Nausea and vomiting;
- Diarrhea;
- White coating on the tonsils and tongue;
- loss of voice;
This is not a complete list of all those signs that may occur.
Pain with musculoskeletal problems
When various diseases of the musculoskeletal system become the reason that the joints hurt, it's time to figure out which joint is unhealthy and what to do about it.
Joint pain in traumatological (and close to them) causes is completely different from others. As a rule, the symptoms in such cases can be the following:
- Swelling and redness of the affected area.
- The sore spot is painful to the touch, hot.
- Pain in any particular joint.
- Fever.
- Numbness and stiffness in movements.
- Sharp piercing pain on motion, and sometimes at rest.
- Joint deformity.
So, orthopedic causes of joint pain may be the following diseases:
- Rheumatism of the joints;
- Arthritis (polyarthritis);
- Arthrosis (polyarthrosis);
- Rheumatic polyarthritis;
- Gout;
- meniscus tear;
- Rupture of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus;
- Functional joint pain;
Brief information about diseases
Joint pain occurs for various reasons, sometimes it can be a symptom of a non-rheumatological (traumatic) disease when caused by infections. In such cases, it is pointless to treat joints without eliminating the source of infection. The pain will stop, but then all the symptoms will return again. As a rule, joint pain disappears when the infectious process is suppressed.
Another, the most common, reason why the joints hurt is the pathological processes occurring inside them, or the injuries suffered.
- Rheumatic arthritis (polyarthritis)- a disease, the catalyst of which is severe infectious diseases: tonsillitis, rubella, influenza, brucellosis. Usually large joints are affected, while the lesion is symmetrical: two elbow or knee joints at once. Joint pain is accompanied by high fever and fever during the period of exacerbation, which practically does not happen with other diseases of the joints.
- Arthrosis (polyarthrosis)- pathological processes leading to partial or complete (with advanced forms of the disease) destruction of cartilage. Joint pain is accompanied by impaired motor activity of the joint. The symptoms of arthrosis and arthritis are similar, but there is one difference: a sore spot with arthrosis hurts when trying to move, which cannot be said about arthritis (with it, the joint hurts even at rest).
- Arthritis- degenerative processes occurring in the joint, associated with inflammation of the joint tissue and its deformation.
- Gout- a violation of calcium and salt metabolism in the body, due to which growths appear on the joint, which become inflamed and hurt. Characteristic features - pain at night.
- meniscus tear- Injury to the knee (or scapula), associated with a violation of the integrity of the meniscus. Pain in such cases occurs in the knee and gives back to him, when moving, you can hear a crunch in the joints.
- Functional joint pain occurs whendisorders of the nervous system, it makes no sense to do anything with the articulation, since the problem must be looked for elsewhere. When it is eliminated, the discomfort will pass.
This, of course, is an incomplete list of why joints hurt, however, these reasons are the most common. What to do in such situations should be decided only by the doctor after a thorough examination and diagnosis.
Treatment
Treatment of joint pain is rather a secondary task, the first goal is usually the elimination of inflammation and the causes of its occurrence.
It is important for the patient to understand that self-medication will not help him in any way and will only delay the treatment process, aggravating the situation.All a person in pain should do is see a doctor.If it so happens that the feeling of stiffness and aching in the joints arose at night and does not allow you to fall asleep, then you can drink an anesthetic and do rubbing with a warming ointment as needed.
The doctor begins treatment of joint pain only after a thorough examination, obtaining the results of the examination and making a diagnosis.
Most orthopedic diseases are treated by traditional methods, and the use of surgical methods is carried out only as a last resort, when a long course of drug treatment has proved powerless.
Medical treatment (conservative method)
Conservative methods are the most popular in this case.
Not a single treatment for such diseases was complete without an appointment:
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which are used in various dosage forms: ointments, injections, tablets, patches, suppositories. At the same time, it is not uncommon for a doctor to decide to prescribe NSAIDs in several forms at once: injections and ointments, tablets and suppositories with ointments. The course of admission is very long, the terms of treatment are determined taking into account the individual characteristics of a person: age, physical. When prescribing, the presence of other diseases, contraindications, and possible side effects should be taken into account.
- Painkillersused in different dosage forms. With a strongly pronounced pain syndrome, potent injections are prescribed, if it hurts slightly, then it is quite possible to get by with pills, warming ointments, patches.
If NSAIDs did not help, then resort to:
- Corticosteroidswhich have both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of treatment with these drugs are that the effect can be achieved much faster than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and the lack of hormones, which do not have a very favorable effect on the body as a whole and lead to unpleasant consequences in the form of hormonal imbalance, weight gain. Therefore, doctors are in no hurry to prescribe corticosteroids.
- Chondroprotectors, which are injected into the affected area in order to optimize the level of synovial fluid, normalize friction, pressure and movement of the joint.
After the end of the course of drug treatment, you can continue it with folk remedies.
Well fix the treatment:
- Massotherapy;
- Gymnastics, swimming;
- Physiotherapy.
An important role is played by the prevention of recurrence of the disease; for this, a course of prophylactic treatment in the form of taking vitamins is carried out twice a year.and NSAIDs.
Operational Methods
If conservative treatment turned out to be powerless and the joint still hurts, then surgery is prescribed, which operation will be performed, depending on the degree of tissue damage and the diagnosis. If this is arthrosis in the third stage, then it is worth doing prosthetics, that is, replacing the articulation with an artificial one. If we are talking about a rupture of the meniscus, then with the help of special punctures, it is sewn together. In any case, doctors will do everything possible to avoid surgery, and the pain has stopped no matter what.
Conclusion
Thus, the joint can hurt for various reasons, it can be infectious problems, and neurological. Joint pain is the main cause of pain. Do not ignore the pain, trying to heal yourself or drowning the pain with painkillers.
There are two main methods of tissue treatment:
- conservative method.
- Operative method of treatment.
Quite rare are cases when surgical methods begin treatment immediately, without resorting to conservative methods. However, such cases also occur, for example, if a person is immobilized, and the degeneration processes are at the stage that it is useless to treat with drugs. In such cases, it hurts so much that a person can lose consciousness from the intensity of the pain.