Joint pain is an inherent symptom of many diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Up to half of the world's population experiences painful sensations once or several times. More often, the development of pathological processes begins in the second half of life, but often worries young patients. Joint pain affects adjacent tissues, muscles and tendons. If left untreated, the problem progresses rapidly and leads to a significant deterioration in quality of life and disability. Timely contact with specialist doctors helps to make a correct diagnosis and begin treatment that will completely relieve joint pain and eliminate its causes.
Causes of joint pain
Pain can be caused by many reasons. Among them:
- Recent or old injuries.
- Overweight.
- 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.
- Osteoarthritis, arthritis, gout.
- Vascular spasms during stress or overload.
Types of joint pain
Joint pain during or shortly after an injury is a natural phenomenon. But the discomfort can be due to several hidden reasons: inflammation, infections, overload and others. If you experience recurring pain in your joints without visible causes, and if the condition progresses, it is advisable to visit a specialist as soon as possible. Any poisoning of the joint is potentially dangerous.
| type of pain | condition of occurrence | Description | Possible reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanic | It occurs in people of any age during physical or sports activity. | Aching pain that disappears at rest, with self-massage, physiotherapy procedures. | Metabolic disorders, previous injuries, dystrophic changes in the cartilage tissue of the joints. |
| From | Marked at the beginning of the movement. | Acute pain and limitation of joint mobility, decreases 3-5 minutes after the start of physical activity. | Osteoarthritis, osteochondrosis |
| Evening | Drawing pain of intermittent intensity. | It occurs at rest, during stress, overexertion, after consuming smoked meats or pickles. | Osteoarthritis, gout |
| reflected | Twisted, aching, pulling pain | It spreads to surrounding tissues. It occurs during sports activities, excess body weight. | Spinal diseases, osteoarthritis, arthritis. |
Medical consultation and diagnosis.
- Chiropractor
- vertebrologist
- Osteopath
- Neurologist
During the consultation, a comprehensive diagnosis is carried out. Based on the results of the consultation, the doctor provides detailed treatment recommendations and, if necessary, prescribes additional diagnostics.
Diagnostic tests
Advanced joint pain has extremely negative consequences. It spreads to adjacent tissues, affecting them pathologically. Large ulcerative lesions develop on the skin. The inflammation can affect the urinary system and genitals. The mobility of the extremities will decrease. The quality of life will decrease significantly.
To avoid such a sad outcome, consult a general practitioner, orthopedist, rheumatologist or neurologist. Do not allow the pain to become constant, painful, deform the organ and affect your general health.
With a well-structured diagnostic process, the doctor, after listening to the patient's complaints and a visual examination, collects a history and prescribes the following procedures depending on the reasonable suspicion of a specific disease:
- Blood test. By changing some indicators, the causative disease can be immediately established;
- X-ray of the affected area. One of the most accessible and reliable studios;
- Synovial fluid sample. Thickening or changes in properties indicate the development of changes in osteoarthritis;
- magnetic resonance. Provides layer-by-layer visualization of the tissue structures of the joint and the area surrounding it. Accuracy increases with 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 allows you to evaluate the vascular environment of the organ and the quality of blood flow in it;
- CONNECTICUT. Creates a three-dimensional image of the organ under study, allowing functionality to be evaluated in motion.
A complete examination of the body will help to get a complete picture of the disease, establish an accurate diagnosis, differentiate diseases with similar symptoms and start restorative and rehabilitative therapy.
Therapeutic therapy for joint pain.
The treatment chosen will depend on the diagnosed disease, its severity and the rate of progression. The sooner the causes of joint pain are identified, the easier the treatment and the better the results. In the early stages, exercise therapy and physical therapy 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. Return joints and bones to physiological positions;
- Physiotherapy. Effective treatment with natural and artificially created factors. Light, water, magnetic or electric field, influence of temperature and others are used. Painless procedures that activate the body's own defenses;
- Massage. Mechanical effect on subcutaneous receptors, relieving spasms, tension, optimizing blood flow;
- Orthopedic shoes, insoles. Eliminate foot deformities, correct postural disorders, relieve joints;
- Reflexology. Inserting needles into biologically active points on the body. Improves microcirculation, blood pressure and reduces pain;
- Ozone therapy. Saturates tissues with oxygen, accelerates the regeneration of damaged organs, increases personal immunity, cleanses from toxic damage;
- Plasma therapy. Injecting your own platelet-rich plasma restores joints, skin and other organs;
- Drug therapy. Pain syndrome is relieved by taking pain relievers. Chondroprotectors are used to restore affected joints. Injections into the internal cavity of the joint are possible;
- Surgical intervention. The joints destroyed by the disease are replaced by modern prostheses that have the same functionality and are significantly time-consuming. Indicated for severe cases of injuries.
Prevention of joint pain.
To strengthen joint tissues and maintain their healthy state, it is recommended:
- perform special exercise sets that support optimal joint functionality;
- go swimming;
- avoid overload and hypothermia of the joint capsule;
- control your own weight, avoiding excess weight;
- drink 2-3 liters of water a day;
- minimize alcohol consumption, quit smoking;
- doing regular industrial exercises during routine sedentary or standing work;
- treat infectious and viral diseases in a timely and high-quality manner. inflammatory diseases;
- Attend a medical examination scheduled annually; if there are signs of joint discomfort, immediately consult a doctor.
Joint diseases: successful treatment in a modern clinic.
For many years, the clinic's specialists have offered effective treatments for various joint diseases, putting on their feet the most difficult patients who had been rejected by other doctors or clinics. A guaranteed positive result is the natural result of using an integrated approach that combines classic therapeutic methods proven by many years of experience and modern, innovative achievements of medicine in the field of joint pain. The professional arsenal of the clinic's doctors includes a large number of rehabilitation and recovery programs, which are constantly updated with the latest and most effective developments. To do this, doctors periodically attend training, retraining courses, seminars or conferences in the best clinics in other countries and become familiar with the advances in therapy and surgery.
Patients of the clinic are offered free consultations and diagnostics, drawing up a preliminary treatment plan. The results of the effectiveness of the therapy will not be long in coming: after the first sessions, patients notice a significant reduction and even the complete disappearance of uncomfortable pain symptoms.
Frequently asked questions
Is it true that only older people have joint pain?
Joint pain can occur in people of any age. The cause of its appearance is 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 weakness of the connective tissue.
Could joint pain be a reaction to climate change?
Yes, joint pain makes people dependent on the weather. Pressure changes in the area where you live increase or decrease intraosseous blood pressure. The increase causes intense pain. Typically, pressure changes precede climate changes. In addition, diseased 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 inherited?
It is not the disease itself that is transmitted, but the predisposition for it to occur. In the presence of concomitant factors, diseases or poor lifestyle, genetic predisposition will drive the development of the disease.
Should I stop doing sports if I have joint pain?
Professional sports with enormous loads are contraindicated in joint diseases. But to keep your joints in good shape you need a strong muscular structure, which can only be achieved through physical exercise. Therapeutic gymnastics, a set of exercises specially selected to have a gentle effect on the affected joints, will help 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 tomatoes and other products from the nightshade family from the diet, as they cause severe pain and provoke the development of inflammation. For everyone else, no special diet is prescribed. But it is worth remembering that the consumption of sweets, smoked meats and fats causes excessive weight gain, which harms joint health.