Hands are very important to a person.With their help, we do almost all work, in addition, only graceful movements of the fingers allow us to write, draw, play musical instruments and create works of art.But it often happens that pain in the finger joints prevents us from doing normal and everyday movements.Only then does a person begin to appreciate this part of his body.Why such symptoms develop, what can warn us and how to deal with them - we will talk below.
Briefly about anatomy
The hand is the distal part of the human upper limb, which consists of a large number of bones, joints, muscles and ligaments.The hand is made up of 3 anatomical parts - the wrist, the metacarpus and the phalanges of the fingers.When they mention pain in the finger joints, they mean the metacarpophalangeal, proximal and distal interphalangeal joints.These joints are the most susceptible to negative effects of all hand joints due to their shallow location and high motor activity.
The metacarpophalangeal joint consists of the head of the metacarpal bone and the base of the proximal phalanx of the finger.The shape of the joint is spherical, which provides a wide range of motion in the range of flexion and extension, adduction and abduction, as well as circular rotation.
Interphalangeal joints are divided into proximal (between the proximal and middle phalanx of the finger) and distal (between the middle and distal phalanx of the finger).Only the skeleton of the first finger, due to its characteristics and function, has one interphalangeal joint (because the finger is built from two, and not from three phalanges, like the others).This joint is shaped like a block, which gives it a range of motion in the range of flexion and extension only.
The main cause of pain
If your finger joints hurt at rest or become painful when moving, you most likely have a disease that affects the structure of the musculoskeletal system.Due to normal fatigue, pain in the fingers rarely develops.This is possible, for example, in school children after the summer holidays, when the fingers are not under pressure for a long time and in the same situation.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 may indicate the following diseases:
- rheumatoid arthritis;
- polyosteoarthrosis;
- gouty arthritis;
- psoriatic arthritis;
- stenotic ligamentitis;
- acute infectious arthritis (bacterial, viral, fungal).
Let's consider each option separately.Knowing the characteristics of certain diseases will help you in each case to suspect the real cause of pain in your finger joints and prescribe the right treatment.
Factors that contribute to damage to finger joints:
- the presence of autoimmune diseases and disorders;
- the presence of a focus of chronic infection in the body (tooth caries, chronic tonsillitis, sinusitis);
- hormonal imbalance in the body, endocrine pathology;
- diseases accompanied by metabolic disorders;
- genetic predisposition;
- history of traumatic injuries to the hands;
- persistent negative effects of environmental factors (cold, hot water or air, vibration);
- occupational hazards.
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 an undulating course with alternating periods of exacerbation and remission.It affects all age groups of patients and is more often observed in women than men.
The early stages of rheumatoid arthritis are characterized by pain in the small joints of the hand, sometimes it hurts to bend your hand into a fist.Severity is accompanied by inflammatory changes in the diseased joint - swelling, redness, increased local skin temperature in the diseased joint, inability to fully perform various movements, first due to pain, and then due to deformity of the hand.
Characteristic symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis are pain in the hands in the morning and a feeling of stiffness.Sometimes it hurts to do any movement for a long time - the stiffness disappears at lunch time or even in the evening.
In the final stage of the disease, irreversible changes occur in the articular and musculo-ligamentous apparatus of the hands with the development of typical defects, which are called features of rheumatoid arthritis:
- hand with lorgnette;
- such as a boutonniere;
- goose neck;
- finger has button position.
With the worsening of the disease, 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 a favorite location is the finger joints.
Polyosteoarthrosis
This is a chronic degenerative-dystrophic disease of the joints.Usually, osteoarthritis affects the large joints of the body (knees, hips, ankles), but sometimes the small joints of the hands are also involved in the pathological process.Moreover, the symptoms most often occur in women during menopause, which confirms the relationship of the disease with the body's estrogen background.
Finger pain with polyosteoarthritis appears more often in the evening, after a working day and physical stress on the joint, and not in the morning, like rheumatoid arthritis.Accompanied by a throbbing sound in the affected joint, it rarely occurs with signs of inflammation.Over time, as the pathological process progresses, the joints become deformed and their mobility is lost, which often leads to the inability to perform small movements, and sometimes even to maintain oneself independently.
A characteristic sign of finger polyosteoarthrosis is a specific formation - Bouchard and Heberden nodes.Bouchard nodes are formations that develop gradually near the affected proximal interphalangeal joint.Their favorite place of localization is the lateral surface of this joint, this leads to a peculiar fusiform thickening of the fingers and limited mobility in the hand.
Heberden's node is a formation that grows on the lateral surface of the distal interphalangeal joint.Their growth is accompanied, unlike Bouchard's nodes, with symptoms of inflammation and pain.When polyosteoarthrosis develops, the fingers become knotted, which can be called a pathognomonic sign of this disease.
One type of finger polyosteoarthrosis is rhizarthrosis.This is an injury to the metacarpophalangeal joint of the first finger of the hand.Develops due to constant load on these joints.Difficulties often arise when making a diagnosis, because this localization pathology is also characteristic of psoriatic and gouty arthritis.
Psoriatic arthritis
Contrary to popular belief, psoriasis is not just a skin disease;in 10-15% of cases, the pathology occurs with damage to the joints.The disease occurs with periods of exacerbation and remission.A favorite location is the distal interphalangeal joint.In some cases, psoriatic arthritis occurs as pandactylitis, when the entire finger suffers - it becomes swollen, red, painful not only in the morning, but always, practically not bent, and shaped like a sausage.Recognizing psoriatic arthritis is usually not difficult - along with damage to the fingers, a typical psoriatic skin rash can be observed.
Gouty arthritis
Gout is a metabolic disease characterized by a violation of purine metabolism with the formation of excessive uric acid, which is stored in the form of salts in peripheral tissues and joint capsules.Although gout mainly affects the big toe, localization on the fingers is also common.Metacarpophalangeal joints, especially the thumb, are involved in the pathological process.
Gouty arthritis has a paroxysmal course.During an exacerbation, the pain is so severe that the patient cannot touch the affected area.Pain is accompanied by symptoms of inflammation - swelling, redness and increased local temperature.
You can also see painless deposits of uric acid salts under the skin, characteristic of gout, called tophi, the size of which can vary from barely noticeable to gigantic.
Stenosing ligamentitis
This pathology is very often confused with arthrosis and arthritis.It is based on inflammation of the annular ligament of the finger.This leads to pain during active and passive movements in it with a certain click.X-rays help in diagnosis;pathological changes will not be visible in the picture with ligamentitis.As a rule, local therapy for this disease, for example, anesthetic ointment, is more effective than other lesions.
Acute infectious arthritis
In most cases, infectious lesions occur as 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 penetrate the joint directly from the external environment, carried through the bloodstream, or penetrate from neighboring tissues.Infectious arthritis occurs with severe pain, inflammation and disturbance of the patient's general condition.
Establishing the true cause of pain in the finger joints plays a very important role, because once you recognize the enemy by sight, it becomes easier to fight him.Therefore, the treatment of articular pathology should be primarily etiological, and then symptomatic.