Bone on the leg hurts: possible causes, diagnosis and treatment methods

A bone on a leg can hurt for a variety of reasons. This is a very common complaint of patients to an orthopedist, rheumatologist, traumatologist, arthrologist. In women, these are most often complaints of pain in the big toe. During the conversation, the doctor often finds out their habit of walking in high heels. Of course, this is beautiful, but the threat of curvature of the first finger in such cases is always present.

The head of the metatarsophalangeal joint of the big toe (bone) begins to protrude outward and is called "valgus deformity of the foot" or "halus valgus of the feet". Moreover, the thumb is so deviated to the side that it overlaps the second toe.

Women are susceptible to this pathology because their ligaments are weaker than those of men, who, although they do not wear heels, can also experience stress on their feet.

Etiology of the phenomenon

In 70% of cases there is a hereditary factor. Cartilage, which normally should be elastic and strong, as a result of gene disorders is covered with mutated collagen, from this the development of the joint is impaired, the inner bone grows.

The second reason can be called all kinds of joint pathologies, when degenerative processes, inflammation, hemorrhages in the joint bag, growth of osteophytes, osteoporosis, etc., occur in them.

Another reason is endocrine disorders such as diabetes or obesity (they increase joint wear).

In addition, there must be provocative factors:

• shoes are not in size, a high heel, which leads to a prolonged unnatural position of the foot, which is why the bag of the thumb becomes inflamed;
• rheumatism (triggered by heredity);
• injuries and microtraumas of the foot with disorders of the ligaments (lead to edema and inflammation of the bone);
• transverse flat feet;
• advanced age (over the years, collagen synthesis practically stops and the joint becomes unstable);
• menopause (a decrease in estrogen increases cholesterol and causes the development of atherosclerotic plaques on the walls of blood vessels, leading to osteoporosis);
• professional loads and enhanced sports;
• deficiency of vitamins A, D, C, E;
• lack of minerals (magnesium).

Signs of hallux valgus

The first harbingers:

• redness of the thumb on the side;
• fatigue of the leg and swelling on it;
• near the thumb, the bone on the leg hurts throughout the day;
• corns of the thumb;
• morning rise is accompanied by acute pain in the foot;
• a thickening appears at the base of the finger.

Further pain appears when walking or standing. When moving, lameness occurs, on the plantar side of the phalanges corns appear. Even at rest, constant discomfort in the foot is felt, fingers are bent.

Offset Classification

The deviation of the finger should normally not exceed 10 degrees. With pathology, the degree increases. Osteophytes appear in the articular cartilage, they disrupt the depreciation of the foot, which causes inflammation. The articular cartilage gradually swells, reddens and hurts.

1. First degree. The thumb offset is less than 20 degrees. Visually, it is not changed, except for an almost imperceptible thickening. The inconvenience is not so much physical as aesthetic. After prolonged exertion, a little discomfort appears.
2. Second degree. Finger offset - 20-30 degrees. From the symptoms: the bone turns red, discomfort becomes frequent, long walking causes little pain.
3. Third degree. Displacement - up to 30-50 degrees. Symptoms: the bone hurts, it swells and reddens, the mobility of the joint is limited. The pain is tolerable, although constant.
4. Fourth degree. Displacement - over 50 degrees. Symptoms: the bone on the toe is very sore when walking, may be lame. Calluses appear on the upper fingertips. Shoes become difficult to pick up due to pain.

How dangerous is the problem without treatment?

When a bone on a leg hurts, many ignore it, but complications will not take long:

• multiple lesions of the joints of the legs with the development of arthrosis;
• increased deformation of the finger;
• violation of posture.

If legs hurt in the area of ​​the foot from above, what should I do?

Treatment of hallux valgus deformity of the foot takes a lot of time, the goal of therapy is to slow the progression of the process and improve joint function. The effectiveness of treatment itself depends primarily on the age of the patient, his activity and degree of finger bias.

Arthritis or arthrosis require long-term drug therapy. With infectious arthritis, the treatment is antibacterial, with immunological pathologies, suppressors are used.

The removal of pain and inflammation with local treatment is carried out by the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory corticosteroid ointments.

When the acute process subsides, chondroprotectors are prescribed to normalize the metabolism in the joints. Recently, Chondrolone is often recommended for this. The active substance of this immunotherapy is chondroitin sulfate. A medicine is produced in Russia.

pharmachologic effect

Chondrolone contains proteoglycans that protect the cartilage, inhibit the activity of the enzyme that destroys it, and they also improve metabolism in the affected tissues. The medicine relieves pain and inflammation, restores the cartilage surface, and regulates the secretion of synovial fluid.

Also used for treatment are paraffin baths, exercise therapy, massage, vitamin therapy. At 1-2 degrees of bias, conservative treatment is effective. This is the use of orthopedic fixators, insoles and interdigital plates. They evenly distribute the load on the foot and do not allow the finger to bend, facilitate walking and relieve pain.

Massotherapy

Foot massage in the form of a spiral-shaped kneading of the bone improves blood circulation and activates the flow of nutrients into the joint, helps to relax muscles and ligaments. The course is 10 days for 20 minutes, then a break for 3 weeks.

Gymnastic exercises

Special exercises are performed daily. They gradually restore mobility and strengthen the joint.

Among them:

• picking up small objects from the floor with your toes;
• drawing numbers or letters in pencil on toes;
• spreading crumpled fabric on the floor with toes;
• walking on toes.

Also improve the condition of herbal baths and limiting the loads on the feet.

Operation

An orthopedic surgeon decides on an operation after examining an X-ray image. Deformity correction is called osteotomy. This usually occurs when conservative treatment is ineffective.

There are more than 150 methods for correcting the valgus deformity of the foot: chevron osteotomy, removal of osteophytes, arthrodesis, etc. The type of operation is chosen by the doctor. Osteotomy is closed and open.

Closed is carried out without incisions through punctures, this is a less traumatic method. The patient is discharged the day after the procedure.

What can be done at home?

Treatment of a bone on the leg at home involves the use of a retainer, insoles and plates between the toes.

The latch is effective:

• at stages 1-2 of the pathology, when there is still no constant pain;
• with obesity for a while, while the patient normalizes weight;
• after surgery during rehabilitation, the retainer provides foot rest.

Prevention

Simple recommendations:

1. Shoes should be sized. It should be made of natural material, with a dense sole, moderately spacious, with instep support.
2. Most often you should go barefoot.
3. In the evening, you can do foot massage and salt baths.
4. Avoid calcium deficiency.
5. Stand less and walk more.

Under the knee hurts: causes

Why do bones on the legs below the knee hurt? Guilty of this:

1. Strong physical strain on the muscles of the legs, for example, with overtraining. This leads to myalgia and cramps.
2. Bone pain can occur due to sprains or torn ligaments.
3. A bruise can provoke her.
4. Pain in bones below the knee can occur due to severe bruising. After a couple of days, puffiness and hematoma will be added to this.
5. The bones of the legs from the knee to the foot hurt with diseases of arthritis, arthrosis or with inflammation of the meniscus of the knee. Pain below the knee closer to the foot is most often caused by varicose veins and thrombosis.
6. The bone on the leg hurts due to a violation of the water-salt balance, when an inflammatory reaction develops in subcutaneous fat, for example, with radiculitis and pregnancy.

Tendons are contraindicated to stretch strongly and for a long time, even if they are durable.

Pain under the front knee can also occur due to tendon inflammation (tendonitis). This is especially felt during physical exertion or climbing stairs.

The leg bone in front hurts with such an unpleasant consequence of arthritis as a cyst of the knee joint, it causes severe pain.

Menisci can break during heavy physical exertion. Menisci act as shock absorbers.

Pain under the knee can occur due to a fracture of the calyx located in this area.

If it is not clear why the leg hurts below the knee in front, then think about a possible dislocation during a fall, an accident, during training, etc. Obesity can also cause discomfort in the legs below the knee. With normalization of weight, the pain goes away by itself.

The leg is very sore below the knee in front and when the periosteum is detached. The knee joint can begin to hurt due to abnormalities in the hip joint or pinching of the nerves. But these are not the only reasons.

Why do bones on my legs hurt yet? For example, due to the weakness of the medial head of the extensor muscle, which presses on the patella and causes pain during movements.

Diseases with bone pain

They are very different:

• Injuries: bruises, fractures, dislocations. More often than others, twisted fractures of the tibia and ankles occur.
• Bone tumors. They can be in the bones themselves or be metastases.
• Diseases of the blood system. In the tubular bones is red bone marrow. His defeat also gives bone pain.
• Inflammatory and infectious diseases. This is primarily hematogenous osteomyelitis. With this disease, a purulent-necrotic process develops not only in the bone marrow, but also in the bone.
• Even with a common cold, bones and muscles can hurt when they get the virus circulating in the blood.
• Bone pains occur with syphilis (at night) and tuberculosis.
• Hypovitaminosis. With a lack of vitamins D and B1, the peripheral nerve endings are destroyed, and this causes pain and a burning sensation in the muscles and bones of the legs and feet.
• Osgood-Schlatter disease. Its essence is that there is a resorption of the tuberosity of the tibia. This is the place in the upper part of the bone to which the muscles attach. In some adolescents, there is a slowdown in the growth of blood vessels on the leg, bone nutrition and blood supply are disturbed. The result is the resorption of tuberosity. There is no particular catastrophe in this, but pains in the bones of the lower leg arise severe. Later, blood supply is restored, so an orthopedic outpatient treatment. Physiotherapeutic treatment is indicated. When the resorption of tuberosity ends, the negative manifestations completely disappear.
• In people of advanced age, pain in the ankle is often caused by nervous disorders or vascular pathologies. All these diseases have a common manifestation in the form of intermittent claudication.
• Also rare, but there is pain in the bones of the lower leg due to Volyn fever. It is caused by body lice. Manifested by chills, sweating, hyperthermia.
• Excessive production of parathyroid hormone (in the parathyroid glands), hormones in the thyroid gland and adrenal cortex leads to osteoporosis.

Diagnostics

It includes:

1. X-ray Takes up to 30 minutes, accuracy about 70%.
2. Ultrasound Time 30 minutes, accuracy about 60%;
3. CT It takes about 15 minutes, accuracy from 60 to 80%;
4. MRI Time 20 minutes, accuracy 97%.

Each of these diagnostic methods is able to give one or another information about the condition of muscles, bones, blood vessels and tendons, as well as skin.

The cheapest method is ultrasound. Expensive research is justified by great accuracy. If vascular pathologies in the legs are suspected, angiography of the vessels, as well as radionuclide diagnostics, are additionally shown.

Treatment of pain in the front of the bone below the knee

Therapy is carried out with the help of medicines for bone pain, physiotherapy, physiotherapy exercises. The first 3 days to relieve swelling, apply cold compresses and rubbing with a piece of ice, the joint should be fixed.

You can also drink painkillers for bone pain. For example, NSAIDs: Ibuprofen or Diclofenac. In severe diseases, a short course of glucocorticosteroids is used.

Injections "Diprospan": instructions for use

This is a prescription drug, available in ampoules. Manufacturer - Russia. Active substances: betamethasone disodium phosphate related to GCS. It is characterized by increased glucocorticoid and to a lesser extent mineralocorticoid activity. The product has anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and immunoprotective effects. It has pronounced effects on metabolism. It is excreted through the kidneys. Indications for use: pathology of bones and muscles.

Instructions for the use of injections "Diprospan" states that it is used for administration intramuscularly, intraarticularly, articularly, intrabursally, intradermally. The drug is not administered intravenously and subcutaneously.

In infectious etiology, antibiotic treatment is indicated. Physiotherapy strengthens muscles very well and stabilizes the joint. It is useful to perform physiotherapy exercises, which will give the muscles the right tone and stop the development of atrophy. With serious and advanced injuries, surgical treatment.

Prevention

To prevent pain in the leg below the knee, it is recommended:

• wear protective knee pads while playing sports;
• with the monotony of leg movements, it is periodically necessary to give them rest and warm up;
• avoid hypothermia of the lower extremities.

When sedentary work, you can not bend your legs and throw one on top of the other. Periodically, you should do exercises, getting up and warming up. A healthy lifestyle and gentle sports are also important. It is advisable to abandon bad habits, because they become the cause of many diseases.

Pain in the bones of the legs can talk about various pathologies. To identify the exact cause, you must visit a medical facility. Only a specialist will be able to make the correct diagnosis and prescribe appropriate therapy. Self-medication without consulting a doctor is unacceptable.