Having felt pain in the elbow joint, not everyone is trying to get to the doctor faster. Although the discomfort in this place can markedly worsen the quality of life. Please note that you can’t get along without consulting a specialist, because until the factors that caused the pain are identified, you can not get rid of it.
Causes of problems
Doctors call several possible ailments that lead to the appearance of pain in the elbow joint. The causes may lie in the appearance of diseases such as arthritis and arthrosis. Gout, epicondylitis, bursitis also lead to unpleasant sensations. With injuries, dislocation, fracture or separation of the process of the elbow joint cannot be ruled out.
Regardless of whether a sharp pain in the elbow joint struck you, or if constant aching sensations haunt you, it is important to find a specialist who can determine what led to it. Only then can adequate treatment be prescribed. It may consist in taking painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs, prescribing physiotherapeutic procedures, but in some cases even surgical intervention may be necessary.
It is impossible to delay a visit to a specialist if you cannot relax or strain your hand. It is also necessary to go to the doctor in cases where the pain does not go away for several days, it bothers at night or during periods of rest. You should not wait until the pain in the elbow joint becomes unbearable, the symptoms of the pathologies of which may not be pronounced even with serious problems.
Arthritis
Quite often, the cause of discomfort is inflammation in the joints. They, in turn, can be caused by infections, injuries, metabolic problems, connective tissue diseases. Depending on the factors that caused the disease, rheumatoid, infectious, rheumatic, gouty arthritis are distinguished. Each of the species requires a special approach to treatment.
Symptoms of arthritis are pain when trying to bend your arm or extend it. They intensify during rest and are easier to move. In addition, patients note swelling of the joint, because it develops swelling. Also, in the places of the affected areas, redness, an increase in local temperature can be observed. In advanced conditions, the joints begin to crackle. In addition, people feel worse overall health.
So, rheumatoid arthritis occurs as a result of damage to joint tissue by one of the types of streptococcus. To determine such a lesion and get rid of problems without the participation of doctors is almost impossible. Rheumatoid arthritis is caused by damage to the connective tissue of autoimmune origin. For him, in addition to joint pain, the appearance of nodules under the skin is characteristic.
An infectious lesion can also cause elbow pain. The reasons lie in the fact that a viral, bacterial or even fungal agent enters the joint, provoking the occurrence of pathology.
Gouty arthritis is caused by reactive inflammation, which occurs as a result of the deposition of uric acid salts. The last problem is caused by metabolic disorders.
Arthritis Treatment
One of the main methods of getting rid of pain is drug therapy. But in addition to this, the effectiveness of ultrasound procedures, the use of a magnet, mud applications has been proven. You can relieve muscle tension with electrotherapy. Thermal procedures are often prescribed: warming up problem areas with paraffin,
salt warmers, ozokerite.
Laser or the use of HILT therapy helps to stimulate the restoration of cartilage tissue. These methods also have anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.
The treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is to take anti-inflammatory drugs, cytostatic drugs, and even immunosuppressants. In addition, physiotherapy exercises are prescribed. The doctor recommend such drugs as Methotrexate, Remicade, Almag.
If it was found that pain in the elbow joints of the hands occurred due to the spread of infection, then antibiotics are prescribed even before the exact type of bacteria is established. They immediately begin to be administered intravenously, so that the medicine enters the affected area in sufficient quantity. Sometimes they begin to stab directly into a sore joint. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can also be prescribed at the same time. When arthritis is most often used antibiotic Ceftriaxone, Ciprofloxacin, Nafcillin, Vancomycin and others (depending on the type of infection).
The treatment of rheumatoid arthritis consists in taking painkillers and prescribing physiotherapeutic procedures. But often this is not enough. Then the question arises of the need for surgical intervention. Often, acute pain in the elbow joint can go away only after replacing the joint or partially removing it. But agreeing to prosthetics is necessary only in extreme cases, when traditional methods fail to produce results for a long time.
Gouty arthritis
When a number of foods are consumed, uric acid is formed in the body . It accumulates and begins to be deposited in the joints. This specific disease is called gouty arthritis. As a rule, men aged 40-50 suffer from it. The risk factors for the development of the disease include heredity, the use of fatty foods, meat, alcohol. Also, psoriasis, erythrocytosis, hyperparatiosis and a number of other problems can become a catalyst.
But the elbow joints gouty arthritis is extremely rare. The joint of the first toe is more prone to this disease. But still, if in the morning you felt an unbearable pain in the right elbow joint (or left), which does not make it possible to make any movements, and any touch only worsens your condition, then you can suspect the development of gouty arthritis. It usually goes away in a few days without any treatment. But if you wait this period and do not go to the doctor, there is a risk that the disease will become chronic. In this case, the kidneys are affected, urolithiasis is diagnosed, uric acid accumulates in the body.
Treatment of gouty arthritis is impossible without a diet that includes drinking plenty, eating fresh vegetables, berries, and fruits. The ban will include alcohol, fats, the amount of meat and salt consumed is reduced to a minimum. In addition, it is necessary to increase your physical activity - it helps to slow down the process of deposition of uric acid in the joints.
Arthrosis
A little less often, doctors come to doctors who complain of unpleasant sensations during movement, which pass at rest, about constant cracking of the joints. But more often people go to the hospital when they notice joint deformation. This occurs, as a rule, with arthrosis.
This disease is characterized not only by moderate pain in the elbow joint, the reasons for which lie in a change in the structure of the cartilage tissue, but also growths that interfere with movements. It occurs as a result of excessive load on the joint, and arthrosis can also result from arthritis, hormonal failure or trauma.
Only a specialist can choose a treatment for such problems. These can be hyaluronic acid injections, physiotherapeutic procedures, massage, manual therapy. Chondoprotective agents are also prescribed. These are such drugs as Arthra, Alflutop, Don, Rumalon, Structum and others. In advanced cases, prosthetics are necessary.
Symptoms of Epicondylitis
Due to the characteristics of some professions, people experience a static load on the muscles of the forearm. This problem is faced by tennis players, masseurs, milkmaids, carpenters. The indicated load can lead to degenerative processes in places where tendons are attached, to small muscle ruptures. All this is the reason that pain appears in the elbow joint.
Epicondylitis is the most common problem that people in these professions face. But it can also occur after overload, for example, after lifting a heavy weight (bar) or as a result of carrying a heavy bag in your hand over a long distance.
Epicondylitis is characterized by pain from the external part of the elbow, which radiates to the forearm. It is enhanced by movement, with palpation of the epicondyle, located on the outside of the humerus. At rest, in most cases, patients are not bothered by anything. If you cannot hold objects in a sore hand, then there is a chance that you have epicondylitis. Also, the disease is accompanied by atrophy of the muscles that are responsible for the extension of the forearm, resulting in numbness of the fingers and shoulder pain.
Epicondylitis Treatment
It is important to know the following: you can not wait until this disease, also known as the “elbow of a tennis player”, passes by itself. Otherwise, it may become chronic. As a result, pain in the elbow joint will become your constant companion. It will be too late to look for the reasons, and the treatment will drag on for a long time.
When diagnosing "epicondylitis" it is important to limit the motor activity of the diseased joint and remove physical activity. Ultrasound procedures are often prescribed to relieve edema. Anesthetize the problem area and stimulate tissue repair using HILT therapy and laser treatment. Electrotherapy can be used to stimulate or relax muscles. The resumption of joint mobility, pain relief, softening of the seals is possible after the appointment of shock-wave procedures. By the way, they are mandatory for epicondylitis.
As a rule, with appropriate treatment, unpleasant symptoms disappear quickly enough. But this is not a reason to refuse therapy. Incomplete sessions can cause you to have a constant pain in the elbow joint over time, which will be difficult to get rid of, because an untreated disease can become chronic.
Bursitis
In case of an infectious lesion, trauma or overstrain of the joint in a special bag with synovial fluid, which has a softening effect during movements, inflammation can begin. Such a disease is called bursitis. It can cause both pain in the right elbow joint and corresponding sensations in the left. The disease is accompanied by redness of the affected area, swelling, local hyperthermia. This is due to the fact that the membrane cells of the bag produce excess fluid, and this causes the joint to protrude.
The pain with bursitis increases in proportion to the increasing size of the elbow bag. If untreated, this can lead to limited mobility of the hand and numbness of the fingers. If the exudate is infected, then signs of general intoxication will appear.
Disease treatment
In order to make an accurate diagnosis and not to confuse bursitis with rheumatoid arthritis, an ultrasound examination is necessary. When treating, it is important to accurately establish the subspecies of the disease. It is also necessary to know that the disease is accompanied only by aching pain in the elbow joint, which can intensify in the absence of adequate treatment.
If bursitis developed as a result of an injury, then it is better to use cold to reduce edema. The hospital may even have a procedure called local cryotherapy. Starting from the second day, you can already warm the affected area. Sometimes doctors diagnose purulent bursitis. In this case, antibiotics are needed. In addition to such therapy, puncture and drainage of the bursa of the joint are also carried out. In rare cases, even its removal is necessary.
Serous bursitis can be treated with painkillers and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Such drugs as Ibuprofen, Codeine can be recommended, for external use - Nurofen Gel.
Traumatic lesions
But not always unpleasant sensations in the elbow arise due to the development of any disease. Severe elbow pain can be with a dislocation. In most cases, it is accompanied by edema and even numbness of the affected area. Often such dislocations are faced by pediatric surgeons. Note that in most cases the cause of such problems is the parents who catch the falling child by the hand or decide to raise it, holding it with one hand. It is impossible to direct dislocation on your own, because the elbow joint is one of the most fragile. Only a doctor should do this, after the procedure a fixing bandage is required.
Also, sharp pain in the left elbow joint (as well as in the right), can indicate a fracture. The cause of its appearance may be an unsuccessful fall, accident or shock. The victim cannot move his hand or even strain it. Fracture is accompanied by bruising, numbness of fingers, pain. The same symptoms can occur with separation of the ulnar process.
To relieve the condition, doctors can immediately inject novocaine. It is important to go for an X-ray, and when confirming the fracture, apply plaster. Physiotherapeutic procedures may also be prescribed to speed recovery. In the early days, you can not do without painkillers. Prescribe drugs such as Sedalgin, Ketarol, Ibuprofen, Naproxen.