Joint pain is a symptom inherent in many diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Painful sensations are experienced once or repeatedly by up to 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 adjacent tissues, muscles and tendons. If left untreated, the problem progresses rapidly, leading to a significant deterioration in the quality of life and disability. Timely contact with medical specialists helps to make a correct diagnosis and begin treatment that completely relieves joint pain and eliminates its causes.
Causes of joint pain
Pain can result from many reasons. Among them:
- Fresh or old injuries.
- Excess weight.
- High physical or sports activity.
- Work involving prolonged standing.
- 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 injury or a short time after it is a natural phenomenon. But discomfort can be caused by a number of hidden reasons: inflammation, infections, overload and others. If you have recurring pain in the joints in the absence of visible causes, and if the ailment progresses, you should visit a specialist as soon as possible. Any intoxication of the joint is potentially dangerous.
| Type of pain | Occurrence condition | Description | Possible reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanical | Occurs in people of any age during physical activity or sports | Aching pain that goes away at rest, with self-massage, physiotherapeutic procedures | Metabolic disorders, previous injury, dystrophic changes in the cartilage tissue of the joints |
| Starting | Marked at the start of movement | Sharp pain and limitation of joint mobility, decreases 3-5 minutes after the start of physical activity | Arthrosis, osteochondrosis |
| Night | Drawing pain of intermittent intensity | Occurs at rest, during stress, overexertion, after consuming smoked meats or pickles | Arthrosis, gout |
| Reflected | Twisting, aching, pulling pain | Spreads to surrounding tissues. Occurs during sports activities, excess body weight | Spinal diseases, arthrosis, arthritis |
Doctor consultation and diagnosis
- Chiropractor
- Vertebrologist
- Osteopath
- Neurologist
During the consultation, a thorough diagnosis is carried out. 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.
To avoid getting such a sad result, consult a general practitioner, orthopedist, rheumatologist or neurologist. Don’t let the pain become constant, painful, deform the organ and affect your overall health.
With a well-structured diagnostic process, the doctor, after listening to the patient’s complaints and visual examination, collects an anamnesis and prescribes the following procedures depending on reasonable suspicion of a specific disease:
- Blood tests. By changing some indicators, the causative disease can be immediately established;
- X-ray of the affected area. One of the most accessible and reliable studies;
- Synovial fluid sample. Thickening or changes in properties indicate the development of arthrosis changes;
- MRI. Provides layer-by-layer visualization of the tissue structures of the joint and the area around it. Accuracy is enhanced by contrast. When planning surgical intervention, such diagnosis is mandatory;
- Ultrasound. Effective in inflammatory processes, systemic diseases, some types of injuries;
- Duplex scanning. Makes it possible to assess the vascular environment of the organ and the quality of blood flow in it;
- CT. Creates a three-dimensional image of the organ under study, making it possible to evaluate 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 treatment chosen will depend on the disease diagnosed, its severity, and the rate of progression. The earlier the causes of joint pain are identified, the easier the treatment will be and the better the results. In the early stages, exercise therapy and physiotherapy are sufficient, but serious cases can 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, relieving spasms, tension, optimizing blood flow;
- Orthopedic shoes, insoles. Eliminate foot deformities, correct postural disorders, relieve joints;
- Reflexology. Inserting needles into biologically active points of 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. The pain syndrome is relieved by taking painkillers. Chondroprotectors are used to restore affected joints. Injections into the internal 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 overload and hypothermia of the joint capsule;
- control your own weight, avoiding excess weight;
- drink 2-3 liters of water daily;
- minimize alcohol consumption, stop smoking;
- do regular industrial exercises during routine sedentary or standing work;
- treat infectious and viral diseases in a high-quality and timely manner. inflammatory diseases;
- attend an annual scheduled medical examination; if there are signs of discomfort in the joints, immediately consult a doctor.
Joint diseases: successful treatment in a modern clinic
For many years, the clinic’s specialists have been providing effective treatment for a variety of joint diseases, putting the most difficult patients on their feet, whom other doctors or clinics had refused. A guaranteed positive result is a natural result of using an integrated approach that combines classical 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 huge number of rehabilitation and recovery programs, which are constantly updated with the latest and most effective developments. To do this, doctors regularly go for training, retraining, seminars or conferences to the best clinics in other countries, and get acquainted with the advanced achievements of therapy and surgery.
Patients of the clinic are offered free consultation 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 note a significant reduction and even complete disappearance of uncomfortable 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 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 changing weather?
Yes, joint pain makes people weather dependent. Changes in pressure in the area where you live increases or decreases intraosseous blood pressure. The increase leads to aching pain. Typically, pressure changes precede weather changes. In addition, diseased joints react strongly to heat or cold. Therefore, people with gout will feel more comfortable in the winter, and people with osteochondrosis in the summer.
Are joint diseases inherited?
It is not the disease itself that is transmitted, but the predisposition to its occurrence. In the presence of concomitant factors, diseases or poor 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 enormous loads are contraindicated for joint diseases. But to maintain joints in good shape, you need a strong muscular frame, which can only be obtained through physical exercise. Therapeutic gymnastics, a set of exercises specially selected to have a gentle 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 tomatoes and other nightshade family products from the diet, as they cause intense pain and provoke the development of inflammation. For everyone else, no special diet is prescribed. But it is worth remembering that eating sweets, smoked meats and fats leads to excess weight gain, which is detrimental to joint health.