The joints of my hands and feet hurt, what should I do? Pain in the joints of the legs 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 understand what is what: prescribe tests or refer you to a specialist. However, many of us know how difficult it is to find time to go to a health facility, because in order to do this, you will have to take time off from work, and then, most likely, sit in line there or prepare a certain amount of money to visit a paid medical center.

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

The importance of making the correct diagnosis

Asking everyone they meet: "If the joints of your hands and feet hurt, what should you do? ", people often do not realize that the pain that worries them can be the initial stage of a serious disease whose development can be stopped or slowed down in the initial stage, when the destructive processes in the joints have not gone too far.

Independently carrying out treatment with the help of lotions, rubbing, poultices, etc. , a sick person exposes his health to a significant risk. After all, home remedies are not that safe at all and may be contraindicated for certain diseases.

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

We will not criticize folk remedies here: they can be an excellent help in the fight against various diseases, but only after the doctor makes a correct diagnosis and recommends what can benefit the joints and what can harm them.

Various causes of joint pain

Why the joints hurt and what to do in those 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 most common joint diseases:

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

   • Pain in one or more joints gradually increases over one to two weeks or may appear suddenly. At rest, the pain intensifies, especially in the morning.
   • Rheumatoid arthritis can also affect the large joints of the hands and feet (wrist, ankle, elbow, knee) and the 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 the disease in question is limited mobility of the affected limbs in the first hours after waking up in the morning.
   • The disease is accompanied by a noticeable increase in joints, redness of the skin in the problem area and increased sensitivity.

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

3. Arthrosis.A disease associated with dystrophic-degenerative changes in cartilage, with the gradual involvement of bone, ligament and synovial tissue in the pathological process. The most common arthrosis is of the knee, hip and elbow joints. Main symptoms:

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

4. Injuries, bruises, physical overload of the joints.

5. Gout- one of the types of arthritis.

Arm and leg joints hurt: what to do?

Let's highlight the main steps that need to be taken consistently in case of joint pain:

1. Before discovering the causes of the pain, you should try to give your joints a rest.
2. Take some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
3. Contact a medical facility to find out the cause of the pain.
4. Get detailed recommendations from your doctor regarding the treatment regimen and medications you should take, as well as consult about traditional healing methods, if you will be using 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 in the affected tissues and cartilage, etc. For this, the doctor can prescribe, in addition to non-steroidal antiviral drugs. - anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics. Within this article, we can provide an excellent recipe from traditional medicine.

In arthritis, a poultice of honey and cabbage is very helpful. You must do this before going to bed. You should take a fresh cabbage leaf, heat it, spread it with a thin layer of honey and apply the coated side to the painful area. The compress is covered with cellophane from above, bandaged and wrapped with a warm woolen scarf. In the morning, the patient will surely feel relief.

The role of proper nutrition

The joints of the legs and hands often hurt due to metabolic disorders in the body. Gout is one of the types of arthritis, a frequent companion of modern people, especially the stronger sex. Probably everyone has heard this term: "salt deposits in the joints". Some people think that it is ordinary table salt, but it is not so.

In 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 very swollen and painful, then perhaps the discomfort indicates the presence of gout.

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

Osteoarthritis. Treatment

Today, many people complain that they have pain in the joints of their hands and feet. What to do if the pain is caused by arthrosis? And here, most likely, you can't do without NSAIDs: they will help you quickly get rid of the pain. Consultation with a doctor is mandatory. An X-ray will need to be taken - this will help the doctor determine the degree of destruction of the joints.

In the treatment of arthrosis, along with anti-inflammatory drugs, the intake of chondroprotectors (substances that restore articular cartilage) plays an important role.

A good alternative to natural chondroprotector is ordinary 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 meat jelly more often, which also contains large amounts of natural substances from which cartilage tissue is built.

Pharmaceuticals

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

For severe pain, you can go beyond just topical ointments and take highly effective NSAIDs in tablet or powder form.

Physiotherapy

If aching joint pain persists, the doctor may consider it necessary for the patient to undergo some 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 a traditional recipe

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 the doctor. What are these medicines and how to make them?

1. Ointment for rheumatism.To prepare it, you will need 100 g of powdered mustard and 200 g of table salt, which you must mix, and then add enough kerosene to the resulting mixture of mustard and salt to obtain a mass similar in density to country cream. The medicine is rubbed into painful places at night.
2. Ointment for arthritis made from honey and egg yolk.Take egg yolks, a block of beeswax (small) and 1 tbsp. l. honey First, the egg yolk is heated in a water bath, into which wax is then crumbled and honey is poured. Everything is mixed to obtain a homogeneous fat. For use, take a piece of gauze folded in several layers, put a hot 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 joints with arthrosis.Take equal parts of nettle leaves, juniper berries (green) and sheep oil. The berries and leaves are crushed well in a mortar and then mixed with oil. Rub the prepared ointment 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 in the following way: tablets from several packages of coal are ground into a powder, to which is added a little water and 1 tbsp. spoon of crushed linseed. After mixing well, the paste is applied overnight on the painful joint, 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 legs and hands hurt. We have already discussed the causes and treatment of many diseases and found that different diseases should be treated differently. But there is an almost universal recipe - compresses, baths, clay compresses, which can be used for arthrosis, arthritis and rheumatic pain. Clay perfectly soothes pain, relieves inflammation and swelling, sucks toxins from the body, etc.

Physical education and sports: benefit or harm for joints

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

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

Final word

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