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

The cause of the pain in the joints will be determined by the doctor after the necessary examinations

Over the past few decades, not only older people have complained of joint pain, but also the category of people whose age has only reached 35 years. Why this happens, there is no exact information, however, the problem is becoming more pressing every year and confusing more and more people.

introduction

If the joints hurt, then you should not attribute the problem to such factors as weather changes, magnetic storms, hypothermia, heavy physical work. This problem has a completely different cause.

Joint pain can be severe

So, why do joints hurt, what can cause joint pain, how to treat sore joints - this article is all about it.

Painful joints can express themselves in different ways: at first just an unpleasant sensation, then crackling (crackling), after numbness and numbness, and only then the pain begins to manifest itself in different ways: backache, inhalation, 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 joints, judged by the nature of the pain and the place of its localization.

  • With infectious diseases (tonsillitis, bronchitis), pain in the joint pulls, it hurts, as a rule, not one joint suffers, but several at once.
  • During intoxication of the body (for example, in the case of poisoning with mushrooms, alcohol), aching pain affects several joints at once.
  • With an exacerbation of chronic diseases (cholecystitis, tonsillitis), joint pain is fluid, that is, it can occur in one place and move to another.
  • In inflammation, pain in the joints is acute, it shoots and stabs. As a rule, one joint hurts, in rare cases - several.

Thus, the causes of joint pain can be different: infectious, inflammatory, toxic and chronic. At the same time, if the cause is not traumatic, rheumatological, orthopedic, then joint pain is far from the only troubling symptom. Other signs of poor human health will mix with them:

  • Increased body temperature;
  • Fever;
  • Have a cold;
  • tear;
  • Loss of appetite;
  • Pounding 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 possible signs.

Pain with musculoskeletal problems

When various diseases of the musculoskeletal system are the cause of joint pain, it's time to find out which joints are unhealthy and what to do.

Joint pain in traumatic causes (and close to them) is completely different from others. As a rule, the 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 certain joints.
  • Pain in the elbow joint with traumatic causes
  • Fever.
  • Numbness and stiffness in movement.
  • Sharp, stabbing pain when moving, and sometimes at rest.
  • Joint deformity.

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

  • joint rheumatism;
  • Arthritis (polyarthritis);
  • Arthrosis (polyarthrosis);
  • rheumatic polyarthritis;
  • Gout;
  • meniscus tear;
  • Rupture of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus;
  • functional joint pain;

Short information about disease

Joint pain occurs for various reasons, sometimes it can be a symptom of non-rheumatic (traumatic) disease when caused by infection. In such cases, it is useless to treat the joint without eliminating the source of infection. The pain will stop, but then all the symptoms will come back again. As a rule, joint pain disappears when the infectious process is suppressed.

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

  1. Rheumatic arthritis (polyarthritis)- diseases, the catalyst of which is severe infectious diseases: tonsillitis, rubella, influenza, brucellosis. Usually large joints are affected, whereas lesions are 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 absent in other joint diseases.
  2. Healthy hand joints and affected by polyarthritis
  3. Arthrosis (polyarthrosis)- pathological processes leading to partial or complete destruction of cartilage (with advanced forms of the disease). Joint pain is accompanied by impaired joint motor activity. The symptoms of arthrosis and arthritis are similar, but there is one difference: the sore spot with arthrosis hurts when trying to move, which cannot be said about arthritis (with it, the joint hurts even at rest).
  4. Arthritis- degenerative processes occurring in the joints, associated with inflammation of the joint tissues and their deformation.
  5. Gout- violation of the metabolism of calcium and salt in the body, due to which growths appear on the joints, which become inflamed and injured. Characteristic feature - pain at night.
  6. meniscus tear- Injuries to the knee (or scapula), associated with a violation of the integrity of the meniscus. The pain in such cases occurs in the knee and gives back to it, when moving, you can hear a crackling sound in the joint.
  7. Functional joint pain occurs when:disorders of the nervous system, it makes no sense to do anything with articulation, since the problem will have to be looked elsewhere. When removed, 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 a situation should be decided only by a doctor after a thorough examination and diagnosis.

Treatment

Treatment of joint pain is more of a secondary task, the first goal is usually to eliminate inflammation and the cause 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, worsening the situation.All a sick person has to do is see a doctor.If by chance stiffness and pain in the joints occur at night and do not allow you to fall asleep, then you can take an anesthetic and apply a warming ointment as needed.

The doctor examines the patient's knee with complaints of joint pain

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 only done as a last resort, when long-term treatment proves ineffective.

Medical treatment (conservative method)

The conservative method is the most popular in this case.

Preparations for the treatment of joints in capsule form

No single treatment for the disease is complete without an appointment:

  • Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which is used in various dosage forms: ointments, injections, tablets, patches, suppositories. At the same time, it is not uncommon for doctors to decide to prescribe NSAIDs in several forms at once: injections and ointments, tablets and suppositories with ointment. The course of admission is very long, the terms of treatment are determined taking into account the individual characteristics of a person: age, physique. When prescribing, the presence of other diseases, contraindications and possible side effects should be taken into account.
  • Painkillersused in various dosage forms. With a very pronounced pain syndrome, strong injections are prescribed, if it hurts a little, then it is quite possible to get by with pills, warming ointments, patches.
Injection of medicine into the shoulder joint for severe pain

If NSAIDs don't help, then use:

  1. Corticosteroidswhich has advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of treatment with these drugs are that their effect can be achieved much faster than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and the lack of hormones, which 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 not in a hurry to prescribe corticosteroids.
  2. chondroprotector, which is injected into the affected area to optimize synovial fluid levels, normalizing friction, pressure, and joint movement.

After the drug treatment ends, you can continue with traditional medicine.

Well fix the maintenance:

  • Massotherapy;
  • Gymnastics, swimming;
  • Physiotherapy.

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

Operational Method

If conservative treatment turns out to be ineffective and the joints still hurt, then an operation 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 a prosthetic, that is, replacing the articulation with an articulation. If we are talking about a rupture of the meniscus, then with the help of a special puncture, it is sewn together. However, doctors would do everything possible to avoid surgery, and the pain has stopped no matter what.

The process of performing surgery on a sore joint

Conclusion

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

There are two main methods of tissue maintenance:

  1. conservative method.
  2. Surgical treatment method.

Quite rarely are cases when surgical methods immediately begin treatment, without resorting to conservative methods. However, such cases also occur, for example, if a person is unable to move, and the degeneration process is at a stage where it is pointless to treat with drugs. In such cases, it is so painful that a person can lose consciousness due to the intensity of the pain.