Finger arthritis is a unifying name that spans several dozen forms and etiological varieties of pathology. Regardless of the causes of the disease, all its types are subordinated to approximately one development algorithm and, in the absence of competent treatment, lead to complete immobilization of the affected joints.
Causes of Arthritis
The human hands are in a state of increased activity compared to other parts of the body, in addition, they are influenced by a huge number of negative external factors - the effects of industrial chemistry, temperature extremes, minor household injuries (cuts, bruises, sprains). The initial classification division of the general concept of pathology occurs precisely on the etiological basis and involves the union of all symptoms of arthritis of the fingers in two large groups:
- Primary arthritis - this includes the development of joint pathology as a result of an infectious disease, rheumatic fever, injuries to the hands, or unsuccessful bone fusion after a fracture. If rheumatoid arthritis of the fingers was noted in the next of kin, then with a high degree of probability the cause of its occurrence in future generations will be a genetic predisposition.
- Secondary arthritis develops as a result of complications after most autoimmune or infectious diseases. It is possible that a pathology will be diagnosed if there are records in the patient’s medical history of the following: tuberculosis, measles, sexually transmitted diseases, acute or chronic tonsillitis, diabetes mellitus or scarlet fever.
The origin of the arthritis of the finger joints in children is rarely associated with a reaction to the rubella, chickenpox or whooping cough vaccine.
Risk groups
The risk group for detecting symptoms of finger arthritis in oneself includes all employees of heavy physical labor associated with carrying heavy loads or receiving a large number of minor injuries. Pathology can also be safely attributed to the professional disease of jewelers, assemblers of small designs, embroiderers, seamstresses, programmers and watchmakers.
With arthritis, which has already turned into a chronic form, relapses will occur in those people whose main activity is accompanied by exposure to low temperatures, constant dampness or forced contact with aggressive chemicals, detergents, and building mixtures.
Since hormonal imbalance and stress become a common cause of the development of finger arthritis, women are the risk group for the disease - they account for 70% of all diagnosed cases.
Types of Arthritis
Under the types of rheumatoid arthritis of the fingers understand the separation of the main - primary and secondary forms of pathology - into smaller categories according to the etiological condition. Five groups of the disease are conditionally distinguished:
- Reactive arthritis - occurs as a consequence of an infectious lesion of the gastrointestinal tract or urinary system. It is characterized by rapid development with moderate pain, inflammation of the infected joint and a slight increase in body temperature.
- Metabolism arthritis - is the result of a violation of the water-salt balance of the body, metabolic process malfunctions, alcoholism, addiction to fatty foods. It is characterized by a course of increasing symptoms without temperature jumps.
- Rheumatoid arthritis - is expressed by chronic development with periods of remission and periodic exacerbations, accompanied by an increase in rheumatoid nodes on the phalanxes of the fingers and a deterioration in motor motility. Joint deformation occurs almost painlessly and in a symmetrical manner.
- Post-traumatic arthritis - as the name implies, occurs after bruising or open damage to cartilage or bone tissue.
- Psoriatic arthritis is a complication of psoriasis, characterized by high temperature, thinning and erosion of bone and atrophy of muscle tissue.
The most effective in the defeat of the fingers of the hands with arthritis are the therapeutic actions taken at the I-II stages of the disease.
Stages of the disease
The progression of any type of arthritis in the absence of treatment or with an illiterate approach to therapy can take from one year to five years and will certainly go through 4 stages of development:
- Stage I - a sick person does not yet feel pain, but in the morning feels the stiffness of his hands, which passes half an hour or an hour after waking up. Diagnosis of arthritis is possible already on this basis.
- Stage II - the phalanxes of the fingers swell, there is a deterioration in motility when working with small parts, pain and an unpleasant crunch in the joints appear.
- Stage III - in place of swelling, joints increase in size, the normal pattern of the bone body is distorted. The pains, especially towards evening, become unbearable, and many simple everyday actions are now performed with great difficulty.
- Stage IV - articular cartilage fuse, completely immobilizing the fingers. A person loses his ability to work and the ability to serve himself.
At stage IV pathology, VTEK authorities issue a certificate of disability of 1 degree.
How to treat finger arthritis
Medication for arthritis is prescribed, as a rule, from stage II of the disease, when severe pain in the joints appears and there is a need for analgesic therapy. In addition to standard oral analgesics, patients are prescribed topical ointments and non-steroidal hormonal drugs, also designed to reduce discomfort. In especially difficult cases, the doctor will prescribe corticosteroids, but their use is determined only by the patient’s weak susceptibility to standard treatment.
Directed drugs are used to influence the cause of the pathology, for example, with metabolic arthritis, drugs that regulate metabolic processes, including strong diuretics, can help. In the last decade, it is possible to reduce the likelihood of complications and prolong the stages of remission with the help of homeopathic remedies.
To restore the elasticity of the cartilage at the first symptoms of arthritis of the fingers, the patient is recommended to perform a special gymnastics complex and perform an intensive massage daily with a warming effect. It is important to know that any physiotherapy, including those performed at home, cannot be carried out during periods of exacerbation of the disease and when joint inflammation is noted.
With purulent symptoms of arthritis of the fingers, treatment and elimination of the main cause of the disease is surgical intervention. Before and after surgery, the patient takes a course of antibiotics.
Ointments for Arthritis
For local anesthesia, use special ointments of both an exclusively analgesic and therapeutic effect. The first include auxiliary therapy, from which only emergency relief of the pain syndrome is expected:
- Nise.
- Ketorol.
- Ketonal.
- Capsicum.
The second category is ointments with anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects:
- Diclofenac.
- Voltaren.
- Levomekol.
- "Vishnevsky ointment".
External therapeutic agents can also be used as prophylaxis if the conditions of a permanent place of work predispose to the development of arthritis.
Mineral therapy for arthritis
The sanatorium treatment of arthritis and arthrosis has a whole range of rehabilitation and therapeutic measures using special purified mud and various types of clays. It is possible to carry out a series of mineralotherapy procedures at home, using inexpensive pharmacy products available on the market.
Procedures with cosmetic clay:
- Green and blue clay taken in 1 teaspoon are dissolved in a bowl of warm water, where the hands are immersed for 15 minutes.
- 2 teaspoons of green clay are diluted with hot water to a thick paste. Then a pinch of table salt is introduced into the composition and a cake is used from the thick mass, which is used as a compress under a warming dressing.
Well with arthritis help baths with mud from the Dead Sea. They can be bought at a pharmacy or in a beauty salon-shop and simply dissolved in hot water for heating procedures.
Salt treatments for arthritis
For external procedures, salt is taken any - food or cosmetic, but the fraction of grains is selected medium. It is preferable that the salt undergoes minimal industrial cleaning and does not have a snow-white color.
Recipes for arthritis of the fingers from the people's piggy bank:
- a handful of sea salt is heated in the oven, then quickly sutured into a cotton bag and applied to a sore spot under a warming dressing for an hour;
- a full spoon of any salt is dissolved in warm water, where then 2 drops of fir and eucalyptus essential oils are added, after which the hands are immersed in the solution for 15 minutes.
After warming up, the joints must be intensively rubbed with fir oil in the fingers to feel the heat. If the procedures are carried out at night, it is recommended to wear cotton gloves and not remove until the morning.
Compresses and applications
Alternative treatment of arthritis of the fingers helps well in the initial stages of the pathology, but you should not ignore it in the later stages of the development of the disease. The second most popular after therapeutic baths with herbs and mineral particles in external therapy are various compresses and applications:
- Hercules flakes steamed with boiling water cool down to 60 °, after which the hot mass is wrapped in gauze and applied to the sore spot. From above, the gauze compress is insulated with a plastic bag and a scarf and holds until the oatmeal paste has cooled completely.
- Take a large handful of rose hips and birch leaves and steam them with three glasses of boiling water. After 10-hour infusion, pour a third of a glass of sodium chloride into the infusion, dissolve it and blot a tissue compress in the liquid, which they hold on the sick hand for any length of time until pain is relieved.
- The middle, washed leaf of burdock is scrolled into a meat grinder and a juicy mass is applied under the bandage to the inflamed area. Compresses should be worn for 5-6 hours, changing the contents every hour.
Applications are best done in the intervals between applying a therapeutic ointment, to cleanly washed hands.
Folk remedies for internal use
Who would have thought, but ordinary potato, thanks to the beneficial starches in the composition, is one of the best remedies for home treatment for arthritis. It can be used in different ways - drink warm broth from jacketed potatoes, eat 1-2 teaspoons of raw grated vegetable 3-5 times a day, apply compresses with boiled and crushed hot potatoes to the affected area.
Of course, phytopreparations are also used for treatment:
- lingonberry leaves (3 teaspoons), brew with two glasses of boiling water, and after an hour of infusion and straining, drink a small glass of solution three times a day;
- dry marigold flowers (2 tbsp. tablespoons), brew half a liter of boiling water in a thermos, insist for 2 hours and drink the filtered liquid in a glass in the morning and evening;
- traditional healers recommend with arthritis of the thumbs to eat as much raw pumpkin seed as possible and add oil from this orange fruit to fresh salads (ground seeds can also be applied as applications).
Juice therapy
Juice therapy for joint diseases is only gaining popularity and few know that only 200 ml of several types of natural juice per day allow a person to refuse expensive multivitamin preparations and feel much better.
With bone and cartilage pathologies, the body needs vitamins and microelements contained in the juices of the following fruits and vegetables:
- cabbage;
- carrot;
- celery;
- cucumber;
- beet;
- wild strawberries;
- grapes.
All the vegetable juices listed in the list can be combined with celery juice, all fruit juices with apple. In diabetes mellitus, the use of juice therapy is previously discussed with the endocrinologist.
Diet and lifestyle
General dietary recommendations for joint diseases pursue the main goal - to exclude excessive accumulation of fluid in the body and to facilitate the digestive tract as much as possible in order to reduce the load on the endocrine and circulatory systems. To do this, from the daily table will have to completely exclude various marinades and pickles, spicy spices, confectionery and, if possible, sugar in general. From meat only chicken and turkey are allowed (as a source of protein), and then in small quantities. From drinks should be abandoned flavored teas, any coffee, packaged juices, soda, alcohol.
Food should be consumed only in a warm form, breaking the daily amount of food into 5 receptions. The amount of liquid drunk per day, including natural juices and liquid dishes, should not exceed one liter.
Already the first signs of pathology noticed involuntarily force one to think about the incorrectness of the lifestyle - most likely, it is continuous manual labor, a large number of bad habits, frequent hypothermia or physical loads disproportionate to the body's capabilities. If it is impossible to refuse the factors provoking the disease due to professional activity, you should devote at least half an hour a day to special gymnastics or self-massage and, of course, do not neglect the recommendations on dietary nutrition.