Joint pain is a symptom that is characteristic of many diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Painful sensations are experienced once or more by half of the world's population. More often, the development of pathological processes begins in the second half of life, but often worries young patients. Joint pain affects the adjacent tissues, muscles and tendons. If left untreated, the problem progresses rapidly, leading to significant deterioration in quality of life and disability. Timely contact with specialists helps in making the correct diagnosis and starting treatment that completely alleviates joint pain and eliminates its causes.
Causes of joint pain
Pain can be due to many reasons. Among them:
- Fresh or old injuries.
- Excess weight.
- High physical or sports activity.
- Work that involves standing for long periods of time.
- Passive lifestyle.
- Age.
- Genetic predisposition.
- Weakening of the immune system.
- Infectious lesions of the body.
- Arthrosis, arthritis, gout.
- Vascular spasms during stress or overload.
Types of joint pain
Pain in the joint during the injury or a short time after it is a natural phenomenon. But discomfort can be caused by many hidden reasons: inflammation, infections, overload and others. If you have repeated pain in the joints without visible causes and if the disease progresses, you should visit a specialist as soon as possible. Any joint intoxication is potentially dangerous.
| Kind of pain | State of appearance | Description | A possible reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanically | It occurs in people of any age during physical activity or sports | Aching pain that disappears with rest, self-massage, physiotherapeutic procedures | Metabolic disorders, previous injuries, dystrophic changes in the cartilage tissue of the joints |
| To begin | Marked at the beginning of the movement | Sharp pain and limitation of joint mobility, decreases 3-5 minutes after the start of physical activity | Arthrosis, osteochondrosis |
| Night | Drawing pain of occasional intensity | Occurs at rest, during stress, overexertion, after consuming smoked meat or pickles | Arthrosis, gout |
| Reflected | Twisting, pain, pulling pain | It spreads to surrounding tissues. Occurs during sports activities, excessive body weight | Spine diseases, arthrosis, arthritis |
Consultation with a doctor and diagnosis
- Chiropractor
- Vertebrologist
- Osteopath
- A neurologist
During the consultation, a detailed diagnosis is made. Based on the results of the consultation, the doctor gives detailed recommendations for treatment and, if necessary, prescribes additional diagnostics.
Diagnostic tests
Advanced joint pain is fraught with extremely negative consequences. It spreads to adjacent tissues, affecting them pathologically. Large ulcerative lesions develop on the skin. Inflammation can affect the urinary system and genitals. Limb mobility will decrease. The quality of life will drop significantly.
In order to avoid such a sad result, consult a general practitioner, orthopedist, rheumatologist or neurologist. Do not allow the pain to become constant, painful, deforming the organ and affecting your overall health.
With a well-structured diagnostic process, the doctor, after listening to the patient's complaints and visual examination, collects the medical history and prescribes the following procedures depending on the well-founded suspicion of a certain disease:
- Blood tests. By changing some indicators, the cause of the disease can be determined immediately;
- X-ray of the affected area. One of the most affordable and reliable studios;
- Synovial fluid sample. Thickening or changes in properties indicate the development of arthritic changes;
- MRI. It provides layer-by-layer visualization of the tissue structures of the joint and the surrounding area. Accuracy is enhanced by contrast. When planning a surgical intervention, such a diagnosis is mandatory;
- Ultrasound. Effective in inflammatory processes, systemic diseases, some types of injuries;
- Duplex scanning. It enables the assessment of the vascular environment of the organ and the quality of blood flow in it;
- CT. It creates a three-dimensional image of the organ being studied, which enables the assessment of functionality in motion.
A comprehensive examination of the body will help to obtain a complete picture of the disease, establish an accurate diagnosis, differentiate diseases with similar symptoms, and begin restorative and rehabilitation therapy.
Therapeutic therapy for joint pain
The selected treatment will depend on the diagnosed disease, its severity and the rate of progression. The sooner the causes of joint pain are discovered, the easier the treatment and the better the results. In the early stages, exercise therapy and physiotherapy are sufficient, but severe cases may lead to surgery.
The following methods are used in the treatment of joint pain:
- Manual therapy. Manual correction of musculoskeletal problems. Returning joints and bones to physiological positions;
- Physiotherapy. Effective treatment with natural and artificially created factors. Light, water, magnetic or electric field, temperature influence and others are used. Painless procedures that activate the body's own defenses;
- Massage. Mechanical effect on subcutaneous receptors, relieves spasms, tension, optimizes blood flow;
- Orthopedic shoes, insoles. Eliminates foot deformities, corrects postural disorders, relieves the joints;
- Reflexology. Insertion of needles into biologically active points of the body. Improves microcirculation, blood pressure and reduces pain;
- Ozone therapy. It saturates tissues with oxygen, accelerates the regeneration of damaged organs, increases personal immunity, cleans from toxic damage;
- Plasma therapy. Injecting your own platelet-rich plasma regenerates joints, skin and other organs;
- Drug therapy. The pain syndrome is alleviated by taking painkillers. Chondroprotectors are used to restore affected joints. Injections into the inner cavity of the joint are possible;
- Surgical intervention. Joints destroyed by the disease are replaced with modern prostheses that have identical functionality and a significant time resource. Indicated for severe cases of lesions.
Prevention of joint pain
To strengthen joint tissues and maintain their healthy condition, it is recommended:
- perform sets of special exercises that support optimal joint functionality;
- go swimming;
- avoid overloading and hypothermia of the joint capsule;
- control your own weight, avoiding excess weight;
- drink 2-3 liters of water a day;
- reduce alcohol consumption, stop smoking;
- do regular industrial exercises during routine sitting or standing work;
- quality and timely treatment of infectious and viral diseases. inflammatory diseases;
- go to an annual scheduled medical examination; if signs of joint discomfort appear, consult a doctor immediately.
Joint diseases: successful treatment in a modern clinic
The clinic's specialists have been providing effective treatment for various joint diseases for many years, putting the most difficult patients on their feet who were rejected by other doctors or clinics. A guaranteed positive result is a natural result of applying an integrated approach that combines classical therapeutic methods proven by many years of experience and modern innovative medical achievements in the field of joint pain. The professional arsenal of the clinic's doctors includes a huge number of rehabilitation and recovery programs, which are constantly updated with the latest and most effective developments. To do this, doctors regularly go to training, retraining, seminars or conferences in the best clinics in other countries, and get acquainted with the advanced achievements of therapy and surgery.
Patients of the clinic are offered free consultations and diagnostics, preparation of a preliminary treatment plan. The results of the effectiveness of the therapy will not take long, but after the first sessions, patients notice a significant reduction and even complete disappearance of unpleasant pain symptoms.
FAQ
Is it true that only older people have joint pain?
Joint pain can occur in people of any age. The cause of its appearance are many infectious diseases, bacterial infections, diabetes mellitus, chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and many other problems of the body. Joint pain at a young age can be a consequence of dysplasia syndrome, in which there is a weakness of the connective tissue.
Could joint pain be a reaction to the change in weather?
Yes, joint pain makes people dependent on the weather. Changes in pressure in the area where you live increase or decrease intraosseous blood pressure. The increase leads to excruciating pain. Typically, pressure changes precede weather changes. In addition, affected joints react strongly to heat or cold. Therefore, people with gout will feel more comfortable in winter, and people with osteochondrosis in summer.
Are joint diseases hereditary?
It is not the disease itself that is transmitted, but the predisposition to its occurrence. In the presence of accompanying factors, disease or bad lifestyle, genetic predisposition will give impetus to the development of the disease.
Should I give up sports if I have joint pain?
Professional sports with huge loads are contraindicated for joint diseases. But to keep your joints in good shape, you need a strong muscular frame, which can only be obtained through physical exercises. Therapeutic gymnastics, a set of exercises specially selected to have a mild effect on the affected joints, will help to significantly reduce pain and protect the organ from further destruction.
Do you need a special diet for joint diseases?
For patients with gout, it is necessary to exclude from the diet tomatoes and other products from the nightshade family, because they cause intense pain and cause the development of inflammation. No special diet is prescribed for everyone else. But it is worth remembering that eating sweets, smoked meat and fat leads to excessive weight gain, which is harmful to the health of the joints.