Arthritis of the fingers of the hands treatment - recommendations, procedures, prevention!

Arthritis is a common name for more than 150 different varieties and forms of joint damage. Despite the multifaceted concept, all the definitions included in it unite a number of common symptoms, including: inflammation, mobility limitation, severe pain, partial loss of de- and disability, etc. The topic of today's publication is arthritis of the fingers. After reading the information below, you will learn everything about this pathology.

Causes of the appearance of the disease

The appearance of arthritis naHands can be provoked by a variety of different factors. The most common of them are described in detail in the following table.

Table. Causes of arthritis of the fingers

Reasons for	Description
Age changes	Joints, like any other component of the human body, are subject to age-related deterioration. As the aging process of slowing down the natural metabolism, resulting in joints receive less amount of nutrients they need.
Injuries to	Any kind of finger damage can potentially lead to arthritis.
Features of the work activity	For example, more often than others, finger arthritis is diagnosed in musicians, seamstresses, jewelers and representatives of other professions, whose activities involve the constant work of fingers.
Heredity	There is no reliable evidence of this, but according to statistics, patients whose close relatives suffer or suffer from arthritis are more predisposed to this disease.
Immune disorders	All kinds of immunity problems make the body less resistant to all kinds of inflammation, and arthritis is no exception.
Infections	Often the cause of inflammation in the joints are untimely, incorrectly or incompletely cured infections. Potentially, even such diseases as influenza and ARVI are capable of leading to arthritis, what can we say about more serious infections.
Other factors	For example, allergies, sexual infections, tuberculosis, diabetes, psoriasis, stress, hypothermia, etc., can cause arthritis.

Types of arthritis of the fingers and its stages

Medicine knows about 150 varieties of the studied disease. In relation to the fingers, there are about 10 of them, but only a few of them are usually diagnosed. The most common forms of pathology can be found in the following table.

Table. Common forms and varieties of finger arthritis

Forms and varieties	Explanations
Infectious	Develops in the event of damage to the joints of all kinds of infections.
Exchange	In view of the violation of internal metabolic processes( in particular - the accumulation of salts), there is a decrease in joint mobility, accompanied by inflammation and painful sensations.
Rheumatoid	It begins with the defeat of small joints, subsequently affecting larger ones.
Post-traumatic	Occurs as a result of damage to nearby bone tissue and / or directly cartilage of the joint.

In accordance with localization peculiarities, the disease is subdivided into proximal, middle and distal forms. Also consider a form such as rizartrite - a kind of disease in which only the thumb is affected.

Depending on the severity, arthritis can have several stages of development. About them in the table.

Table. The stages of the development of arthritis of the fingers

Stages	Description
First	There are no obvious manifestations of the disease, as a rule. Along with this, it is possible to suspect the presence of arthritis and consult a doctor at this stage. For example, a characteristic manifestation is the deterioration of the mobility of the fingers in the morning. The stage is insidious in that adverse changes in the condition very quickly disappear, so patients often ignore the need to see a doctor.
Second	Accompanied by the onset of bone erosion. Characteristic signs become more pronounced. There are painful sensations, swelling, crunches. Performing ordinary small actions with your fingers becomes more difficult.
Third	Deformation processes occur in the joint region. Symmetrical lesions, painful sensations are very pronounced. There is an increased body temperature. Stiffness of movements is noted.
Fourth	Accompanied by joint cartilage fusion. Fingers lose mobility. It is impossible to perform basic self-service activities.

Characteristic symptoms

The features of the manifestation of the disease and the intensity of their manifestation are determined, above all, by the cause of its occurrence.

1. Painful sensations. Appears when you perform any actions with your fingers. At first, the intensity of pain can be insignificant, as it progresses, it increases. As a rule, at first the fingers hurt only in the mornings, then - at any time. Patients often characterize these sensations as an ache, often accompanied by tingling and burning.
   

   Painful sensations

2. Characteristic adverse reactions to weather changes.
3. Stiffness , even to the inability to move your fingers.
4. Redness of the skin in the lesion. The skin, at the same time, often becomes strained and hot.
   

   Finger arthritis. Redness

5. Swelling and swelling.
6. Temperature rise.
7. Scratches, crunches and other third-party sounds when you move your fingers.
8. Subcutaneous nodules.
   

   Nodules

9. Weight loss.
10. State general weakness, fatigue .
    

    Fatigue is a sign of arthritis

Treatment options

General recommendations

Before starting individual treatment, the doctor will give the patient general recommendations that increase the effectiveness of therapy and reduce the severity of painful manifestations.

1. Forget about self-treatment. Any methods must be agreed with the doctor in advance.
2. Minimize the load on your fingers. If arthritis has developed on the basis of professional work, go to the hospital at least during periods of exacerbation of the disease.
3. Do the exercises recommended by your doctor daily.
4. Observe each recommendation given by a specialist.
5. Do not lift weights, do not make sharp movements with your fingers.
6. Have a good rest.
7. Follow the doctor's prescribed diet.

Medication

In the vast majority of cases, you can not do without the use of medications. Specific drugs are prescribed exclusively by a doctor.

First of all, anti-edemas and anti-inflammatory drugs, as well as pain medications are recommended.

Almost every drug used to fight arthritis involves long-term use.

Additionally, vasodilator drugs are prescribed. Normalization of the function of the vessels will provide more intensive and high-quality nutrition of the joints. Preparations, as a rule, are injectable, calculated for intravenous or intramuscular injection.

For a bacterial form of arthritis, antibiotics must be prescribed at the discretion of the treating physician. In addition, vitamin complexes are used.

Physiotherapeutic

Treatment of arthritis should be comprehensive, and appropriate physiotherapy techniques are a very important part of this program. They can improve metabolic processes, restore the mobility of joints and stop or significantly slow down the destructive effect of the disease.

So, a good effect is noted when using methods of electrophoresis and ultrasound, acupuncture, quartz, and massage. Due to the close arrangement of the joints of the fingers to the skin, the above procedures give a very noticeable positive result.

Electrophoresis is usually performed with the use of medications, which increases the effectiveness of the procedure.

The list of contraindications for electrophoresis includes the following:

• elevated temperature;
• presence of implants falling into the treated zone( specified individually);
• various skin diseases.

No less often used technique is ultrasonic influence. It allows you to eliminate spasms, reduce the severity of pain, improve the mobility of your fingers. Ultrasound is allowed to use only after the acute stage of the disease. Among the contraindications are:

• hypertension;
• menopause;
• ischemia of the heart;
• vegetovascular dystonia and other vascular pathologies.

At the stage of the disease

The treatment will differ depending on the stage of the disease. Thus, during periods of exacerbation, the patient is prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs and pain medications. Specific drugs are selected individually for the patient.

In periods of remission, when pain, swelling and inflammation are reduced, the main task is to restore the joint with a parallel elimination of the causes that led to the onset of the disease. For example, if arthritis is provoked by gout, methods( first of all - diet) are used to normalize purine metabolism with a subsequent decrease in the concentration of uric acid. In the case of rheumatoid arthritis, actions should be taken for the overall normalization of immunity.

In advanced cases, it is necessary to resort to surgical treatment using endoprosthetics.

Endoprosthetics

Used in the absence of positive results from the use of other therapeutic techniques. The essence of the procedure is reduced to the replacement of affected joints with special prostheses. Artificial joints are created individually for the patient.

After the operation and rehabilitation course, the motor activity is restored and the patient's condition is normalized.

Forecasts and preventive recommendations

As with any other disease, the earlier arthritis is detected, the higher the chances for a successful normalization of the patient's condition. Even if you do not have the characteristic signs of pathology, but she was present at someone from close relatives, consult your doctor periodically and follow his recommendations.

In general, if you do not start the disease before the stage of surgery, a person remains legally competent. In other respects, the prognosis depends solely on the patient, or rather on the correctness, conscientiousness and completeness of compliance with medical prescriptions.

Regarding preventive recommendations, it is impossible to completely protect yourself against this disease, but there are a number of techniques that allow minimizing the risk of the appearance and subsequent progression of arthritis of the fingers.

Tips are as follows:

• timely, correctly and until the end treat all kinds of infectious diseases, eliminating self-activity and fully adhering to medical recommendations;
• take special vitamin complexes to normalize metabolic processes and improve nutrition of joints;
• lead an active life, go in for sports;
  

  Active way of life as prevention of arthritis

• strengthen your body, lead a healthy lifestyle, tempered;
• do not allow obesity, watch your weight, get rid of excess fat deposits in a timely manner;
• minimize( and even better - completely refuse) from alcohol and smoking;
  

  Eliminate bad habits of

• adhere to the right diet, eliminate harmful foods and maintain a balance.
  

  Discard harmful products

Be healthy!

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