What to do if the joints hurt - treatment, a full description of the causes of pain

In recent decades, not only older people have complained of joint pain, but also people who are just 35 years old. There is no precise information as to why this happens, but the problem is becoming more pressing every year and is puzzling more and more people.

introduction

If the joints hurt, you should not attribute the problem to factors such as weather changes, magnetic storms, hypothermia or hard physical work. This problem has completely different causes.

So, why do joints hurt, what can cause joint pain, how to treat diseased joints – this article is all about that.

Painful joints can manifest themselves in different ways: at first it can be just unpleasant sensations, then crackling (crunching), after numbness and numbness, and only then the pain manifests itself in different ways: back pain, swallowing, burning. Joint pain is not a harmless phenomenon and its causes can be very different.

causes of pain

Why pain can appear in the joint is judged by the type of pain and the place of its localization.

• In infectious diseases (tonsillitis, bronchitis) pull pain in the joint, pain, as a rule, suffers not one joint, but several at once.
• With intoxication of the body (for example, with poisoning with mushrooms, alcohol), aching pains affect several joints at once.
• With exacerbation of chronic diseases (cholecystitis, tonsillitis), joint pains are fluid in nature, that is, they can appear in one place and move to another.
• With inflammation, the pain in the joints is acute, it shoots and pierces. Usually one joint hurts, in rare cases several.

The causes of joint pain can be different: infectious, inflammatory, poisoned and chronic. However, when the cause is not traumatological, rheumatological or orthopedic, joint pain is far from the only bothersome symptom. Other signs of human disease are mixed with them:

• increase in body temperature;
• Fever;
• Runny nose;
• tear;
• loss of appetite;
• rattling in the chest;
• nausea and vomiting;
• Diarrhea;
• White coating on tonsils and tongue;
• loss of voice;

This is not a complete list of all the signs that you may experience.

Pain associated with musculoskeletal problems

When various musculoskeletal disorders are causing your joints to ache, it's time to find out which joint is ailing and what to do about it.

Joint pain in traumatological (and related) 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 is painful to the touch, hot.
• Pain in a specific joint.

• Fever.
• Numbness and stiffness in movements.
• Sharp lancinating pain when moving and sometimes at rest.
• joint deformity.

Orthopedic causes of joint pain can therefore be the following diseases:

• rheumatism of the joints;
• arthritis (polyarthritis);
• arthrosis (polyarthrosis);
• rheumatic polyarthritis;
• Gout;
• meniscus tear;
• fracture of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus;
• functional joint pain;

Brief information on 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, there is no point in treating joints without eliminating the source of infection. The pain stops, but then all the symptoms return. Joint pain usually disappears when the infectious process is suppressed.

Another, the most common reason why the joints hurt is the pathological processes occurring in them or the injuries sustained.

1. Rheumatic arthritis (polyarthritis)- a disease, the triggers of which are serious 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 during the period of exacerbation is accompanied by high fever and fever, which is practically absent in other diseases of the joints.

2. Arthrosis (polyarthrosis)- pathological processes leading to partial or complete (in advanced forms of the disease) destruction of the cartilage. Joint pain is associated with restricted motor activity of the joint. The symptoms of osteoarthritis and osteoarthritis are similar, but there is one difference: an osteoarthritis sore hurts when trying to move, which is not the case with osteoarthritis (hence the joint hurts even at rest).
3. arthritis- degenerative processes occurring in the joint, which are accompanied by inflammation of the joint tissue and its deformation.
4. gout- a violation of calcium and salt metabolism in the body, as a result of which growths appear on the joint, which become inflamed and painful. Characteristic features - pain at night.
5. meniscus tear- Injury to the knee (or scapula), associated with a violation of the integrity of the meniscus. Pain in such cases arises in the knee and gives it back, when you move, you can hear a crunch in the joints.
6. Functional joint pain occurs whendisorders of the nervous system, it makes no sense to do anything with the articulation since the problem has to be looked for elsewhere. When it is eliminated, the discomfort will pass.

Of course, this is a partial list of why joints hurt, but 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

The treatment of joint pain is more of a side task, the first goal is usually to eliminate the inflammation and the causes of its development.

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 and aggravate the situation.All a person in pain should do is see a doctor.If at night there is a feeling of stiffness and pain in the joints and you cannot fall asleep, you can drink an anesthetic and, if necessary, rub it with a warming ointment.

The doctor starts treating joint pain only after a thorough examination, receipt of the test results and diagnosis.

Most orthopedic diseases are treated using traditional methods, and the use of surgical methods is carried out only as a last resort, when long-term drug treatment has proved ineffective.

Medical treatment (conservative method)

Conservative methods in this case are the most popular.

Not a single treatment for such diseases was completed 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 condition. When prescribing, the presence of other diseases, contraindications and possible side effects should be taken into account.
• Painkillerused in various dosage forms. With a strongly expressed pain syndrome, strong injections are prescribed, if it hurts slightly, then it is quite possible to get by with pills, warming ointments, patches.

If NSAIDs didn't help, access:

1. corticosteroidswhich have both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of treatment with these drugs are that the effect can be achieved much faster than with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and the absence of hormones that do not have a very beneficial 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.
2. chondroprotectors, which are injected into the affected area to optimize the level of synovial fluid, normalize friction, pressure and movement of the joint.

After the end of drug treatment, you can continue it with folk remedies.

Now fix the treatment:

• massage therapy;
• gymnastics, swimming;
• Physical therapy.

An important role is played by preventing the recurrence of the disease, for this 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 ineffective, and the joint still hurts, an operation is prescribed, which is 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 joint with an artificial one. If the meniscus is broken, it is stitched together with the help of special punctures. In any case, the doctors will do everything possible to avoid surgery, and the pain has definitely stopped.

Conclusion

So, the joint can hurt for various reasons, it can be infectious problems and neurological problems. Joint pain is the main cause of pain. Don't ignore the pain, don't try to heal yourself or drown the pain with painkillers.

There are two main methods of tissue treatment:

1. conservative method.
2. Surgical treatment method.

Quite rare are cases when surgical methods begin treatment immediately, without resorting to conservative methods. But such cases also occur, for example, when a person is immobilized and the degenerative processes are at a stage where drug treatment is pointless. In such cases, it hurts so much that the intensity of the pain can cause a person to lose consciousness.