The joints of the hands and feet hurt, what should I do? Pain in the joints of the feet and hands: causes and treatment

If the joints of the hands and feet hurt, what should a person do in such a situation? Of course, the first thing that comes to your mind is to go to the clinic and see your local doctor and he will know what it is: to prescribe tests or refer you to a specialist. However, many of us know how difficult it can be to find time to go to a medical facility, because to do this you will have to take time off from work and, most likely, sit in line there or preparea certain amount of money for a visit to a paid medical center.

In general, people have many reasons for self-medication at home. And it is not so rare that this really helps. Well, in our article you will find many folk recipes that help with joint pain of various types, as well as a list of pharmacological drugs designed specifically to solve such problems. But first, we advise you to seriously read the next chapter of our story.

The importance of correct diagnosis

Asking everyone they meet: "If the joints of the hands and feet hurt, what should you do? ", people often do not understand that the pain that worries them can be the initial stage of a serious disease, the development of which may have been stopped or slowed down at the initial stage, when the destructive processes in the joints have not yet progressed far.

Carrying out the treatment independently with the help of lotions, rubs, poultices, etc. , a sick person exposes his health to considerable risk. Besides, home remedies are not at all safe and may be contraindicated for certain diseases.

For example, there is an opinion that for the quick resolution of joint problems there is nothing better than warming up. But this is not the case at all! If the disease is accompanied by swelling, acute inflammatory processes occur in diseased joints, and a local increase in temperature is observed, then applying heat to the problem area can only worsen the condition. If the joints of the hands and feet hurt, the causes, symptoms and treatment regimens should first of all be discussed with specialists (rheumatologist, orthopedic or traumatologist).

We are not going to criticize folk remedies here: they can be an excellent help in the fight against various diseases, but only after the doctor makes the correct diagnosis and gives recommendations on what can benefit the joints and what will cause harm.

Various causes of joint pain

Why the joints hurt and what to do in these cases will be much easier to understand if you know the reasons that cause pain, pain in the limbs and limitation of their motor functions. Here are some of the more common joint conditions:

1. Rheumatoid arthritis.A chronic disease in which inflammatory processes are observed in the connective tissues. Characteristic symptoms accompanying arthritis:

   • Pain in one or more joints increases gradually over one to two weeks or may come on suddenly. At rest, the pain intensifies, especially in the morning.
   • Rheumatoid arthritis can affect both the large joints of the hands and feet (wrist, ankle, elbow, knee) and small joints of the feet and hands. Inflammation of one joint is called monoarthritis and inflammation of several joints is called polyarthritis.
   • One of the symptoms of this disease is the limited mobility of the affected limbs during the first hours after waking up in the morning.
   • The disease is accompanied by noticeable enlargement of the joints, redness of the skin in the problem area and increased sensitivity.

2. Rheumatism.With this chronic disease, all organs (heart, kidneys, lymphatic system, etc. ), including the joints, are gradually affected. The process can take many years. It is very important to start treatment as early as possible. One of the most characteristic signs of early rheumatism is joint pain that occurs periodically, sometimes accompanied by increased body temperature and swelling.

3. Arthritis.A disease associated with dystrophic-degenerative changes occurring in the cartilage, with the gradual involvement of bones, ligaments and synovial tissues in the pathological process. The most common arthropathy is of the knee, hip and elbow joints. Main symptoms:

   • the main symptom is pain that occurs when moving or putting pressure on the affected joint.
   • gradual limitation of mobility. If the disease is not treated in time, the process can progress quickly, which will eventually lead to disability.

4. Injuries, bruises, physical overload of joints.

5. Arthritis- one of the types of arthritis.

The joints of the hands and feet hurt: what to do?

Let's describe the main steps that should be taken consistently in case of joint pain:

1. Before finding out the causes of pain, you should try to provide rest to the joints.
2. Take a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
3. Contact a medical facility to find out the causes of the pain.
4. Get detailed recommendations from your doctor about the treatment regimen and medications you should take, and consult about traditional treatment methods if you are going to use them.

Treatment of arthritis

Arthritis is most often severe pain in the joints of the hands. What to do in this situation? The patient must understand that treatment will require a series of complex measures. After all, it is necessary not only to relieve symptomatic pain, but also to slow down the inflammatory process, restore normal blood flow to the affected tissues and cartilage, etc. For this, the doctor can prescribe, in addition to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics. In the context of this article, we can give an excellent recipe from traditional medicine.

For arthritis, a honey-cabbage compress is very helpful. You should do it before going to bed. You need to take a fresh cabbage leaf, heat it, smear it with a thin layer of honey and apply the coated side to the sore spot. The compress is covered with cellophane on top, tied and wrapped in a warm woolen scarf. In the morning the patient will definitely feel relief.

The role of proper nutrition

The joints of the feet and hands often hurt due to metabolic disorders in the body. The disease gout is one of the types of arthritis, a frequent companion of modern people, it especially torments the stronger sex. Probably everyone has heard this term: "calcification of the joints". Some people think it's all about ordinary table salt, but it's not.

With gout, uric acid salts are deposited in the joints and this happens due to the constant consumption of meat, fatty fish and alcohol. Smoking also contributes to the development of the pathological process. If the joints of your fingers and toes become swollen and very painful, then the discomfort may indicate the presence of gout.

This disease is easier to prevent than to cure. The main recommendation for the prevention of the disease is proper nutrition. Nothing complicated: you need to introduce more vegetables, whole grains, fruits, cottage cheese into your diet and give up smoking and alcoholic beverages.

Osteoarthritis. Treatment

Today, many people complain of joint pain in their hands and feet. What to do if the pain is caused by arthritis? And here, most likely, you cannot do without NSAIDs: they will help you quickly relieve the torment. A doctor's consultation is required. An X-ray will need to be taken - it will help the doctor determine the degree of joint destruction.

In the treatment of arthritis, along with anti-inflammatory drugs, taking chondroprotectants (substances that restore articular cartilage) plays an important role.

A good alternative natural chondroprotectant is regular gelatin, which can be bought in stores. This product should be diluted in warm water and drunk several times a day. And for the fastest restoration of cartilage, it is recommended to prepare homemade jelly or jelly more often; it also contains large amounts of natural substances from which cartilage tissue is created.

Pharmaceuticals

Several times, when we mentioned in our article the question "what to do if the joints of the hands and feet hurt", we wrote that pain and inflammation are well relieved by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs for short. In the treatment of joints, ointments of this group are very effective.

For severe pain, you can go beyond topical ointments and take highly effective NSAIDs in the form of tablets or powders.

Physiotherapy

If painful joint pain persists, the doctor may consider it necessary for the patient to undergo certain physical procedures:

• UHF?
• phonophoresis or electrophoresis.
• UV radiation?
• magnetic therapy;
• transcutaneous electrical stimulation?
• paraffin baths and applications etc.

Treatment of joints with ointments prepared according to traditional recipes

We continue to consider the main topic of the article: "What to do if your joints hurt? "Treatment with independently prepared ointments can be an excellent addition to the procedures prescribed by a doctor. What are these remedies and how to make them?

1. Ointment for rheumatism.To prepare it, you will need 100 g of mustard powder and 200 g of table salt, which must be mixed together, and then add enough kerosene to the resulting mustard-salt mixture to obtain a mass similar in thickness to country sour cream. The medicine is rubbed into painful places at night.
2. Arthritis ointment from honey and egg yolks.Take an egg yolk, a piece of beeswax (small) and 1 tbsp large. honeyFirst, the yolk is heated in a water bath, in which the wax is then crushed and the honey is poured. Everything is mixed to form a homogeneous ointment. For use, take a piece of gauze folded in several layers, place a warm mass on it, and in this form the medicine is applied to the joint and firmly fixed with a bandage.
3. Ointment for the treatment of arthritic joints.Take equal parts of nettle leaves, juniper berries (green) and sheep oil. The berries and leaves are crushed well in a mortar and then combined with oil. The prepared ointment should be rubbed into the joints in the morning and evening.

Treatment with activated carbon

There is a simple but effective way to treat gouty joints. To do this you will need activated carbon. You will need to make a paste of this product. This is done as follows: tablets from several packages of coal are ground into powder, to which is added a little water and 1 tbsp. spoon of crushed flaxseed. After thorough mixing, the paste is applied to the painful joint overnight, after which it is bandaged and wrapped warmly until morning.

Clay therapy

Here is another excellent folk method of treatment if the joints of the feet and hands hurt. We have already discussed the causes and treatment of many diseases and discovered that different diseases need to be treated differently. But there is an almost universal recipe - compresses, baths, clay wraps, which can be used for arthritis, gout and rheumatic pains. Clay perfectly soothes pain, relieves inflammation and swelling, absorbs toxins from the body, etc.

Physical education and sports: benefits or harms for joints

Those who are very interested in sports activities often have joint pain. What should you do if your knees and ankles hurt after long, grueling runs that seem to be done in the name of health? First, review your lifestyle. Any excesses are harmful - this statement can also be applied to sports.

To relieve someone from the feeling of constant discomfort in the joints of the legs, sometimes it is enough for a person to simply reduce physical activity. Jogging or walking (for the elderly), morning exercises, yoga and swimming are good for improving health. All of the above are unlikely to cause pain in your joints. On the contrary, such physical training will fill them with strength and endurance.

Last word

We hope that the information presented in the article will help those who have pain in the joints of their hands and feet. Diseases and methods of treatment, folk recipes and a list of medicines - all these materials were carefully studied by us in advance and only then presented for public viewing. Use this information for your health and your joints to always be normal!