Joint pain

Today, joint pain is one of the most common syndromes encountered in family doctor practice worldwide. According to statistics, 80% of the world's population experiences joint pain to varying degrees.

Joint pain is a symptom of a very complex disease of the musculoskeletal system. A person suffers from long-term and often sharp pains that are very difficult to tolerate. What are the causes and characteristics of joint pain?

The symptom complex of joint pain that develops when one or more joints are involved in the pathological process is called joint syndrome. Diagnosis of this syndrome in the practice of a family doctor is sometimes quite a difficult task. First of all, this can be explained by the existence of a large number of diseases that occur with damage to various bones and joints, as well as the presence of an unusual, erased clinical picture of the disease, especially in patients who receive or have received the day before such medications as steroid hormones, antibiotics.

Sometimes diagnostics are complicated by the scarcity of clinical manifestations, the long latent course of the disease, monosymptomatic damage to the musculoskeletal system, which creates conditions for masking the disease under other conditions. Joint lesions and joint pain in some cases precede typical extra-articular manifestations of the disease by some period of time. Characteristic laboratory changes and radiographic signs may be absent for a long time. In all these cases, differential diagnostics of joint lesions takes a fairly long period of time (months and even years).

In addition, there is a significant group of diseases that have joint pain and occur with damage to periarticular tissues and are accompanied by clinical manifestations similar to articular syndrome. Such diseases include bursitis, tendovaginitis. And only rarely is diagnosis made based on one or more specific signs - pathognomonic symptoms (for example, skin plaques in psoriatic arthritis, high titer of antibodies to DNA in systemic lupus erythematosus). At the same time, a carefully collected anamnesis by a doctor is one of the central and determining links in the differential diagnosis of articular syndrome. Anamnesis and objective examination contain 60-75% of the information necessary for a general practitioner to make a diagnosis. Laboratory methods, X-ray and other instrumental studies help to clarify the nature of joint damage only in some cases. A particularly important role among anamnestic information in making a diagnosis is given to pain analysis.

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What causes joint pain?

Quite a few patients suffer from joint pain – more than a third of the world’s population. Moreover, more than half of the patients are over 40 years old, and more than 90% of patients are over 70. That is, with age, this disease takes more and more people into its tenacious paws.

If you do not see a doctor in time to treat joint pain, it will become increasingly worse and then much more difficult to cure.

What diseases can cause joint pain?

One of such diseases that provoke joint pain is arthritis. People with this diagnosis suffer from joint inflammation - several or one, as well as pain in the ligaments and tendons. Pain in one area, one joint is monoarthritis, and in more than three joint formations - polyarthritis.

How to recognize inflammation in joints and tendons? Observe your body. You may have arthritis if you have the following symptoms.

• Swollen joint
• Temperature increase
• Joint pain in or near the area of swelling
• Inability to move freely due to pain
• Muscle fossil

Why does arthritis develop?

This disease is caused by infections, poor blood flow, metabolic disorders, and a lack of calcium in the diet.

If the cause of joint inflammation is an infection, then the person will feel pain even at rest. And it does not matter whether you have physical overexertion or you move little.

If arthritis is of an infectious nature, joint pain can be a concern both in a state of complete rest (for example, when a person is lying down or standing) and with the slightest movement, not to mention sudden movements.

In addition to pain, a person's limbs or fingers may swell. The area of this swelling is the sore joint. Then the limb will be immobile due to pain, its shape gradually changes due to constant swelling and fluid that inevitably accumulates under the skin in the middle of the sore joint.

These visible signs are also accompanied by severe fatigue, fever, headaches, mood swings, and increased irritability.

Osteoarthritis and its symptoms

What is osteoarthritis? This is a disease of the joints, in which they become deformed and swell, and pain in the joints appears. This disease is considered the most common in rheumatology.

How does osteoarthritis occur? Over the years, the cartilage that is located between the joints and is designed to protect them from injury becomes increasingly vulnerable. It is no longer as flexible, quickly deteriorates, hardens and can become inflamed. Cartilage can rub against each other, its tissue wears out and becomes inflamed. Then the tendons and ligaments attached to it stretch and also become inflamed, causing joint pain.

No joint is immune to inflammation, and each of them can become a target for this disease. Osteoarthritis can affect the knees, spine, fingers, toes, and hips.

At the visible level, the joints may be swollen, and thickenings, called bumps, may form in the area of the bends. There may be redness.

What to do when you are diagnosed with osteoarthritis?

Consult your doctor, maybe losing weight and changing your diet will ease your joint pain. Of course, you will definitely have to buy painkillers, as well as vitamins and glucose.

Swimming is good for reducing stress on joints.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its symptoms

With this disease of the joints, they become inflamed and hurt. But there are also signs that distinguish this disease from others. This is the so-called symmetry - pain in the joints is observed on the right and left sides of the body. By this sign, you can distinguish RA from other types and begin to treat it.

RA is very dangerous, to the point that it can lead to death. The sooner you start treating the disease, the faster you can cope with it. Therefore, at the first signs of RA, you must definitely contact a doctor for treatment.

Temporal arteritis – why is it dangerous?

Temporal arteritis is an inflammation and pain in the joints. It is accompanied by pain in the temples, hence its name. Pain in the temples occurs due to inflammation of the vessels of the eyes and head. This disease does not come alone - along with it, a person is also affected by rheumatic polymyalgia (multiple muscle pain).

It is caused by failures in the body's immune system, in particular, the immune response to external irritants.

Temporal arteritis is characterized by

…pain in different parts of the body, in particular, hips, eyes, head, shoulders. This disease can occur suddenly and a person cannot even move because of the pain.

Other symptoms include sudden weakness, increased fatigue, limited movement, fever, rapid weight loss, severe headaches, pain in the shoulders and hips.

If treatment is not carried out in time

A person may go blind, have a stroke, or have other irreversible consequences.

Many people do not suspect that they have temporal arteritis, mistaking it for headaches. But it is worth being alert and contacting a doctor in time at the slightest deterioration in health, so as not to aggravate the disease.

Fibromyalgia and its symptoms

With this chronic disease, a person has severe pain in the joints and increased sensitivity. It is enough to simply touch the skin - and a person can experience sudden and sharp pain. At the same time, insomnia, increased fatigue and weakness are also tormenting.

The nature of fibromyalgia is still poorly understood. But doctors say that the culprits of the disease are not injuries and bruises. Although this disease affects nerves, muscles and joints, they may not have been injured before.

Fibromyalgia is associated with increased sensitivity of nerve cells in the brain - the brain and spinal cord. Hormonal imbalance (low levels of hormones that control mood, sensitivity to pain) is also considered its cause.

Symptoms of fibromyalgia include sleep disturbances, pain in joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons, low mood, increased sensitivity to touch, melancholy, and depression.

All this prevents a person from living a full life and enjoying life, so the main goal of treatment is to restore the previous state of health and get rid of depression.

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How is fibromyalgia treated?

First of all, patients take sedatives to establish a sleep pattern.

Antidepressants may also be part of the treatment for fibromyalgia, as depression can increase sensitivity to pain.

Medicines to reduce inflammation, such as naproxen or ibuprofen, are also on the list. However, they may not fight pain for long, sometimes failing to cope with this role. Then the doctor prescribes other, more powerful painkillers.

If you experience symptoms of fibromyalgia or joint pain, you should immediately consult a doctor to begin treating the disease at its initial stage.

About the structure of joints and the nature of pain

If you know why joint pain occurs, it is much easier to fight and treat them. Therefore, you need to understand the symptoms to find out what diseases provoke them. Then you can prescribe the optimal treatment.

A few words about the structure of joints. What is a joint? It is a part of a limb - an arm or a leg - that is mobile and that is connected to other joints by ligaments. Two bones can be connected to each other by joints.

Bones can move through the tendons and muscles they are attached to. If at least one of these components (tendons, muscles, ligaments) begins to hurt, doctors call it one general term - joint pain.