Hands are very important for a person.With their help, we perform almost any work, in addition, only graceful movements of our fingers allow us to write, draw, play musical instruments and create works of art.But what often happens is that pain in the finger joints prevents us from performing familiar daily movements.Only then will a person begin to appreciate this part of his body.Why does such a symptom develop, what can it warn us about and how to deal with it – we will talk below.
Briefly about anatomy
The hand is the distal part of the human upper limb, consisting of a large number of bones, joints, muscles and ligaments.The hand is made up of 3 anatomical parts - the wrist, the metacarpal bones and the knuckle skeleton.When they refer to pain in the finger joints, they mean the interphalangeal, proximal and distal joints.These joints are most susceptible to negative effects of all the joints of the hand due to their superficial location and high motor activity.
The metacarpophalangeal joints include the ends of the metacarpals and the bases of the proximal phalanges.The shape of the joint is spherical, providing a range of motion in the range of flexion and extension, adduction and abduction, as well as rotation.
The interphalangeal joints are divided into proximal (between the proximal and middle phalanges of the fingers) and distal (between the middle and distal phalanges of the fingers).Only the skeleton of the first finger, due to its characteristics and functions, has an interphalangeal joint (because the finger is made up of two, not three phalanges like the others).These joints are shaped like a block, giving them a range of motion within the range of just flexion and extension.
Main cause of pain
If your finger joints are painful at rest or painful when moving, you most likely have a disease that affects these structures of the musculoskeletal system.Due to normal fatigue, finger pain rarely develops.For example, this can happen in schoolchildren after summer vacation, when the fingers have not been strained for a long time and in similar situations.But such pain is characterized by a feeling of fatigue, does not require treatment and quickly disappears after minimal rest.
Persistent pain in the finger joints can be a sign of the following diseases:
- rheumatoid arthritis;
- polyarthritis;
- gouty arthritis;
- psoriatic arthritis;
- stenotic tendonitis;
- Acute infectious arthritis (bacterial, viral, fungal).
Let's look at each option separately.Knowing the characteristics of a particular disease will help you in each case to suspect the true cause of pain in the finger joints and prescribe the correct treatment.
Factors contributing to finger joint damage:
- Presence of autoimmune diseases and disorders;
- the presence of chronic foci of infection in the body (tooth decay, chronic tonsillitis, sinusitis);
- Hormonal imbalance in the body, endocrine diseases;
- diseases accompanied by metabolic disorders;
- genetic predisposition;
- history of hand injury;
- constant negative impact of environmental factors (cold, hot water or air, vibration);
- occupational hazard.
Rheumatoid arthritis
This chronic autoimmune disease of the musculoskeletal system is the most common cause of damage to small joints, especially finger joints.The disease has a wavy course with alternating periods of exacerbation and remission.It affects all ages of patients and is more common in women than men.
The early stages of rheumatoid arthritis are characterized by pain in the small joints of the hands, sometimes even pain when bending the hand into a fist.Exacerbation of the condition is accompanied by inflammatory changes in the diseased joint - swelling, redness, increased local skin temperature over the diseased joint, inability to perform full range of motion, first due to pain and then due to deformation of the hand.
Typical symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis are hand pain in the morning and a feeling of stiffness.Sometimes you feel pain when doing any movement for a long time - the stiffness disappears by lunchtime or even in the evening.
In the later stages of the disease, irreversible changes occur in the joint and musculo-ligamentary apparatus of the hand with the development of typical deformities, which are called characteristic signs of rheumatoid arthritis:
- hand with lorgnette;
- like a small gift;
- swan neck;
- The fingers have button positions.
As the disease worsens, general symptoms can also be observed - fever, loss of appetite, muscle pain and poor health.Rheumatoid arthritis can affect any joint in the body, but the most common location is the finger joints.
polyarthritis
This is a chronic degenerative-dystrophic disease of the joints.Most often, osteoarthritis affects large joints of the body (knees, hips, ankles), but sometimes small joints in the hands are also involved in the pathological process.Moreover, symptoms most often occur in women during menopause, which confirms the relationship of the disease with the body's estrogenic background.
Finger pain with polyarthritis appears more often in the evening, after a day of work and physical stress on the joints, and not in the morning as with rheumatoid arthritis.Accompanied by a crunching sound in the affected joints, rarely accompanied by signs of inflammation.Over time, as the pathological process progresses, the joints become deformed and lose mobility, which often leads to the inability to make small movements and sometimes even maintain themselves independently.
The characteristic sign of polyarthritis of the fingers is specific formations - Bouchard and Heberden nodes.Bouchard nodes are masses that gradually develop near the affected proximal interphalangeal joints.Their favorite location is the lateral surface of these joints, which leads to a special thickening of the fingers and limited mobility of the hand.
Heberden's nodes are growths on the lateral surfaces of the distal interphalangeal joints.Their development is accompanied by symptoms of inflammation and pain, unlike Bouchard nodes.As polyarthritis progresses, the fingers become rough, which can be called a pathological sign of this disease.
One type of polyarthritis of the fingers is rhizarthrosis.This is a lesion of the metacarpophalangeal joint of the first finger of the hand.Develops due to constant load on this joint.Difficulties often arise when making a diagnosis, since the pathology of this localization is also characteristic of psoriatic arthritis and gout.
Psoriatic arthritis
Contrary to popular belief, psoriasis is not just a skin disease;In 10-15% of cases, pathology occurs with joint damage.The disease occurs with periods of exacerbation and remission.The preferred location is the distal interphalangeal joint.In some cases, psoriatic arthritis occurs in the form of tendinitis, when the entire finger is swollen, red, painful not only in the morning but constantly, practically does not bend and has a sausage-like shape.Recognizing psoriatic arthritis is usually not difficult - along with finger lesions, a typical psoriatic skin rash can be observed.
Gouty arthritis
Gout is a metabolic disease characterized by disorders of purine metabolism with excessive formation of uric acid, which is stored as salts in peripheral tissues and joint capsules.Although gout mainly affects the big toe, it is also common to affect the fingers.The metacarpophalangeal joints, especially the thumb, are involved in the pathological process.
Gouty arthritis has a paroxysmal progression.During an exacerbation, the pain is so intense that the patient cannot even touch the affected area.Soreness is accompanied by inflammatory symptoms - swelling, redness and increased local temperature.
You may also observe painless subcutaneous deposits of uric acid salts, characteristic of gout, called tophi, the size of which can vary from barely noticeable to enormous.
Narrow tendonitis
This pathology is very often confused with joint disease and arthritis.It is based on inflammation of the annular ligament of the finger.This leads to pain when performing active and passive movements with specific clicks.X-rays help with diagnosis;Pathological changes will not be visible in tendonitis images.As a rule, topical therapy for this disease, such as anesthetic ointments, is more effective than for other lesions.
Acute infectious arthritis
In most cases, infectious lesions occur in the form of monoarthritis - damage to one joint, rarely two or more joints are involved in the pathological process.This pathology can be caused by any pathological microorganisms that can enter the joint directly from the external environment, pass through the blood or penetrate from neighboring tissues.Infectious arthritis occurs with severe pain, inflammation, and the patient's general condition is disturbed.
Determining the real cause of pain in the joints of the fingers plays a very important role, because once you recognize the enemy with the naked eye, fighting him will become much easier.Therefore, treatment of joint pathology is mainly the cause, followed by symptomatic treatment.