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

In recent decades, not only the elderly have complained of joint pain, but also that category of people whose age has just reached 35 years. For this to happen, there is no precise information, however, the problem becomes more and more urgent every year and leaves a growing number of people perplexed.

introduction

If your joints hurt, you shouldn't attribute the problem to such factors as weather changes, magnetic storms, hypothermia, hard physical work. This problem has completely different causes.

So, why the joints hurt, what can be the causes of joint pain, how to treat diseased joints - this article is about all this.

Sore joints can express themselves in different ways: at first it can be only unpleasant sensations, then crepitus (crunching), after numbness and numbness, and only then the pain begins to manifest itself in different ways: back pain, sipping, burning. Joint pain is not a harmless phenomenon and its causes can be very different.

Causes of pain

The reason 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 pulls, hurts, as a rule, one joint does not suffer, 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 the exacerbation of chronic diseases (cholecystitis, tonsillitis), joint pains are of a sliding nature, that is, they can occur in one place and move to another.
• In inflammation, the pain in the joints is sharp, shoots and punctures. As a rule, one joint hurts, in rare cases - several.

Therefore, 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, orthopedic nature, joint pain is far from the only symptom that will bother. Other signs of poor human health will be mixed with them:

• Increased body temperature;
• Fever;
• Rhinorrhea;
• lacrimation;
• Loss of appetite
• rattling in the chest;
• Nausea and vomit;
• Diarrhea;
• White coating on the tonsils and tongue
• loss of voice;

This is not a complete list of all those signs that can occur.

Pain with musculoskeletal problems

When various diseases of the musculoskeletal system become the reason that the joints hurt, it is time to figure out which joint is not healthy and what to do about it.

Joint pain in trauma causes (and close to them) 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 a particular joint.

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

So, the orthopedic causes of joint pain can 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 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 these cases, it is useless to treat the joints without eliminating the source of the infection. The pain will cease, but then all symptoms will return. As a rule, joint pain disappears when the infectious process is suppressed.

Another reason, the most common, why the joints hurt are the pathological processes that occur inside them or the injuries suffered.

1. Rheumatic arthritis (polyarthritis)- a disease, the catalyst of which are severe infectious diseases: tonsillitis, rubella, flu, brucellosis. Large joints are usually affected, while the lesion is symmetrical: two elbows or knees at the same time. Joint pain is accompanied by high fever and fever during the period of exacerbation, which practically does not occur with other joint diseases.

2. Arthrosis (polyarthrosis)- pathological processes that lead to partial or complete destruction (with advanced forms of the disease) of the cartilage. Joint pain is accompanied by reduced motor activity in the joint. Symptoms of osteoarthritis and arthritis are similar, but there is a difference: a sore spot with osteoarthritis hurts when trying to move, which cannot be said of arthritis (with it, the joint it hurts even at rest).
3. Arthritis- degenerative processes occurring in the joint, associated with 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 hurt. Characteristic features: night pain.
5. meniscus tear- Injury to the knee (or shoulder blade), associated with a violation of the integrity of the meniscus. The pain in these cases occurs in the knee and returns to it, when you move, you can feel a creak in the joints.
6. Functional joint pain occurs whendisorders of the nervous system, it makes no sense to intervene on the joint, since the problem must be sought 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

The treatment of joint pain is rather a secondary task, the first goal is usually the elimination of inflammation and the causes of its onset.

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 suffering person should do is consult a doctor.If it happens that the feeling of stiffness and pain in the joints arises at night and does not allow you to fall asleep, then you can drink an anesthetic and rub with a warming ointment as needed.

The doctor begins the 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-inflammatories, 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 admission course is very long, the terms of treatment are determined taking into account the individual characteristics of a person: age, physique. When prescribing, it is necessary to take into account the presence of other diseases, contraindications and possible side effects.
• Pain relieversused in different dosage forms. With a strongly pronounced pain syndrome, powerful 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, resort to:

1. 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 organism 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 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 to adjust the treatment:

• Massage therapy;
• Gymnastics, swimming;
• Physiotherapy.

An important role is played by the prevention of relapse of the disease, for this, a course of prophylactic treatment in the form of taking vitamins is carried out twice a year.and NSAIDs.

Operating methods

If conservative treatment has proved impotent and the joint still hurts, 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 joint 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. Either way, doctors will do everything they can to avoid surgery and the pain is gone no matter what.

Conclusion

Therefore, the joint can hurt for various reasons, it can be infectious and neurological problems. Joint pain is the leading cause of pain. Don't ignore the pain by trying to heal yourself or drowning the pain with pain relievers.

There are two main methods of tissue treatment:

1. conservative method.
2. 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 degenerative processes are at the stage where it is useless to deal with drugs. In these cases, it hurts so much that a person can lose consciousness from the intensity of the pain.