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 is barely 35 years old. Why this happens, there is no exact information, however, the problem is becoming more and more urgent each year and intrigues an increasing number of people.

Introduction

If your joints hurt, you should not attribute the problem to factors such as climate change, magnetic storms, hypothermia, strenuous 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 it.

Painful joints can express themselves in different ways: at first it may just be unpleasant sensations, then crackles (crushing), then numbness and numbness, and only then does the pain begin 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

Why there may be pain in the joint is judged by the nature of the pain and the location of its location.

• With infectious diseases (tonsillitis, bronchitis), pain in the joint is pulling, aching, as a rule, not one joint suffers, but several at the same time.
• 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 fluid in nature, that is, they can occur in one place and move to another.
• In inflammation, joint pain is sharp, shoots and punctures. As a rule, one joint hurts, in rare cases - several.

Thus, the causes of joint pain can be diverse: infectious, inflammatory, intoxication and chronic. At the same time, if the cause is not traumatological, rheumatological, orthopedic in nature, joint pain is far from being the only bothersome symptom. Other signs of human health problems will be mixed with them:

• Increase in body temperature;
• Fever;
• Runny nose;
• to tear apart;
• loss of appetite;
• Rattle in the chest;
• Nausea and vomiting;
• Diarrhea;
• White coating on tonsils and tongue;
• voice loss;

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

Pain with musculoskeletal problems

When various diseases of the musculoskeletal system become the reason why joints hurt, it's time to find out which joint is unhealthy and what to do about it.

Joint pain in traumatological causes (and close to them) is completely different from others. As a rule, symptoms in such cases can be as follows:

• 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 stabbing pain on movement and sometimes at rest.
• Joint deformity.

So, orthopedic causes of joint pain can be the following diseases:

• Rheumatism of the joints;
• Arthritis (polyarthritis);
• Arthrosis (polyarthrosis);
• Rheumatic polyarthritis;
• Drop;
• meniscus tear;
• Rupture of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus;
• Functional joint pain;

Brief information about diseases

Joint pain occurs for a variety of reasons, sometimes it can be a symptom of a non-rheumatological (traumatic) illness when caused by infections. In such cases, it is useless to treat the 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 more common reason why joints hurt is the pathological processes that occur within them or the injuries sustained.

1. Rheumatic arthritis (polyarthritis)- a disease, the catalyst of which are serious infectious diseases: tonsillitis, rubella, influenza, brucellosis. Usually large joints are affected, while the injury is symmetrical: two elbow or knee joints at once. Joint pain is accompanied by high fever and fever during the period of exacerbation, which is practically not the case with other joint diseases.

2. Arthrosis (polyarthrosis)- pathological processes that lead to partial or complete destruction (with advanced forms of the disease) of cartilage. Joint pain is accompanied by impaired motor activity of the joint. The 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 about arthritis (with it, the joint hurts even at rest).
3. Arthritis- degenerative processes that occur in the joint, associated with inflammation of the joint tissue and its deformation.
4. Drop- a violation of the metabolism of calcium and salt in the body, due to which growths appear on the joint, which become inflamed and injured. Characteristic features - pain at night.
5. meniscus tear- Injury to the knee (or scapula), associated with a violation of the integrity of the meniscus. The pain in these cases occurs in the knee and returns to it, when moving, you can hear a popping sound in the joints.
6. Functional joint pain occurs whennervous system disorders, it makes no sense to do anything with the joint, as 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

The treatment of joint pain is a secondary task, the first objective 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 at all and will only delay the treatment process, aggravating the situation.All a person in pain should do is see a doctor.If the feeling of stiffness and joint pain happens at night and does not allow you to fall asleep, you can drink an anesthetic and rub in a warming ointment as needed.

The doctor starts treating 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 performed only as a last resort, when a long course of drug treatment proves impotent.

Medical treatment (conservative method)

Conservative methods are the most popular in this case.

Not a single treatment for such ailments has been completed without a consultation:

• 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 the same time: injections and ointments, pills 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, physical. When prescribing, one should take into account the presence of other diseases, contraindications and possible side effects.
• Analgesicsused in different pharmaceutical forms. With a strongly pronounced pain syndrome, potent injections are prescribed, if it hurts a little, it is quite possible to live with pills, warming ointments, patches.

If NSAIDs don't help, turn to:

1. corticosteroidsthat have advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of treatment with these drugs are that the effect can be achieved much faster than with 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.
2. chondroprotectors, which are injected into the affected area to optimize the level of synovial fluid, normalize friction, pressure and joint movement.

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

Well, fix the treatment:

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

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

operational methods

If conservative treatment is impotent and the joint still hurts, surgery is prescribed, the operation of which will be performed depending on the degree of tissue damage and the diagnosis. If this is osteoarthritis in the third stage, then it is worth making prostheses, that is, replacing the joint with an artificial one. If we are talking about a meniscus tear, then with the help of special punctures it is sewn. Either way, 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 and neurological problems. Joint pain is the main cause of pain. Don't ignore the pain by trying to heal or drowning the pain with painkillers.

There are two main methods of treating fabrics:

1. conservative method.
2. Operative method of treatment.

Very rare are the cases in which surgical methods initiate 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 where 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.