Hands are very important for a person.With their help, we do almost all the work, moreover, only graceful movements of the fingers allow us to write, draw, play musical instruments and create works of art.But it often happens that pain in the finger joints prevents us from performing familiar, everyday movements.Only then does a person begin to appreciate this part of his body.Why such a symptom develops, what it can warn us about and how to deal with it – we will talk about this below.
Briefly about anatomy
The hand is the distal part of the human upper limb, which consists of a large number of bones, joints, muscles and ligaments.The hand is constructed from 3 anatomical parts: the wrist, the metacarpus and the skeleton of the phalanges of the fingers.When they talk about pain in the finger joints, they are referring to the metacarpophalangeal, proximal and distal interphalangeal joints.These joints are the most susceptible to negative effects of all joints of the hand due to their superficial location and high motor activity.
The metacarpophalangeal joints consist of the heads of the metacarpal bones and the bases of the proximal phalanges of the fingers.The shape of the joint is spherical, which allows for a range of movement in the areas of flexion and extension, adduction and abduction, as well as circular rotation.
The interphalangeal joints are divided into proximal (between the proximal and middle phalanges of the fingers) and distal (between the middle and distal phalanges of the fingers).Only the skeleton of the first finger, due to its characteristics and functions, has an interphalangeal joint (since the finger is built from two, and not three phalanges, like the others).These joints are shaped like a block, giving them a range of motion from flexion to extension only.
Main causes of pain
If your finger joints hurt at rest or become painful when moving, you likely have a condition that affects these structures of the musculoskeletal system.Due to normal fatigue, pain in the fingers rarely develops.This is possible, for example, in schoolchildren after summer vacation, when the fingers have not experienced stress for a long time and in similar situations.But such pain is characterized by a feeling of fatigue, does not require treatment and quickly disappears after minimal rest.
Persistent pain in the finger joints may indicate the following diseases:
- rheumatoid arthritis;
- polyarthritis;
- gouty arthritis;
- psoriatic arthritis;
- stenosing ligamentitis;
- acute infectious arthritis (bacterial, viral, fungal).
Let's consider each option separately.Knowing the characteristics of a particular disease will help you in each case to suspect the true causes of pain in the finger joints and prescribe the appropriate treatment.
Factors that contribute to finger joint damage:
- presence of autoimmune diseases and disorders;
- the presence of chronic foci of infection in the body (rotten teeth, chronic tonsillitis, sinusitis);
- hormonal imbalance in the body, endocrine pathology;
- diseases accompanied by metabolic disorders;
- genetic predisposition;
- history of traumatic hand injuries;
- constant negative impact of environmental factors (cold, water or hot air, vibrations);
- professional risks.
Rheumatoid arthritis
This chronic autoimmune disease of the musculoskeletal system is the most common cause of damage to small joints, particularly those of the fingers.The disease has a wavy course with alternating periods of exacerbation and remission.It affects all age groups of patients and is more often observed in women than in men.
The early stages of rheumatoid arthritis are characterized by pain in the small joints of the hand, sometimes even clenching your fist hurts.An exacerbation is accompanied by inflammatory changes in diseased joints - swelling, redness, increased local skin temperature over diseased joints, inability to fully perform the range of movements, first due to pain, then due to hand deformities.
A characteristic symptom of rheumatoid arthritis is pain in the hands in the morning and a feeling of stiffness.Sometimes it hurts to perform movements for a long time - the stiffness disappears by lunchtime or even in the evening.
In later stages of the disease, irreversible changes occur in the articular and musculo-ligamentous apparatus of the hands with the development of typical deformities, called features of rheumatoid arthritis:
- hand with telescope;
- like a buttonhole;
- swan neck;
- the fingers have a buttoning position.
With an exacerbation of the disease, general symptoms can also be observed - fever, loss of appetite, muscle pain and poor health.Rheumatoid arthritis can affect any joint in the body, but a prime location is the finger joints.
Polyarthrosis
It is a chronic degenerative-dystrophic disease of the joints.Typically, osteoarthritis affects the large joints of the body (knees, hips, ankles), but sometimes the small joints of the hands are also involved in the disease process.In addition, symptoms most often occur in women during menopause, which confirms the relationship between the disease and the body's estrogen background.
Finger pain in polyarthritis appears more often in the evening, after a day of work and physical stress on the joints, and not in the morning, as in rheumatoid arthritis.Accompanied by a crunching sound in the affected joints, it rarely occurs with signs of inflammation.Over time, as the disease process progresses, the joints become deformed and their mobility is lost, which often leads to the inability to perform small movements, and sometimes even to maintain oneself independently.
Characteristic signs of polyarthrosis of the fingers are specific formations - Bouchard's and Heberden's lymph nodes.Bouchard's lymph nodes are formations that gradually develop near the affected proximal interphalangeal joints.Their preferred place of localization is the lateral surfaces of these joints, which leads to a peculiar fusiform thickening of the fingers and limited mobility of the hands.
Heberden's nodes are formations that develop on the lateral surface of the distal interphalangeal joints.Their growth is accompanied, unlike Bouchard's lymph nodes, by symptoms of inflammation and pain.As polyarthrosis progresses, the fingers become knotted, which can be called pathognomonic signs of this disease.
One type of polyarthrosis of the fingers is rhizarthrosis.This is a lesion of the metacarpophalangeal joint of the first finger of the hand.Develops due to constant loads on this joint.Difficulties often arise during diagnosis, since the pathology of this localization is also characteristic of psoriatic and gouty arthritis.
Psoriatic arthritis
Contrary to popular belief, psoriasis is not just a skin disease;in 10 to 15% of cases, the pathology occurs with joint damage.The disease occurs with periods of exacerbations and remissions.The preferred location is that of the distal interphalangeal joints.In some cases, psoriatic arthritis manifests itself in the form of pandactylitis, when the whole finger suffers - it becomes swollen, red, hurts not only in the morning, but constantly, practically does not bend and has the shape of a sausage.Recognizing psoriatic arthritis is usually not difficult - in addition to lesions on the fingers, typical psoriatic rashes can be observed.
Gouty arthritis
Gout is a metabolic disease characterized by a violation of purine metabolism with excessive formation of uric acid, which is stored in the form of salts in peripheral tissues and the joint capsule.Although gout mainly affects the big toe, localization on the fingers is also common.The metacarpophalangeal joints, especially the thumb, are involved in the pathological process.
Gouty arthritis has a paroxysmal course.During an exacerbation, the pain is so intense that the patient cannot even touch the affected area.The pain is accompanied by symptoms of inflammation - swelling, redness and increased local temperature.
You may also see painless subcutaneous deposits of uric acid salts, characteristic of gout, called tophi, which can vary in size from barely noticeable to gigantic.
Stenosing ligamentitis
This pathology is very often confused with osteoarthritis and arthritis.It is based on inflammation of the annular ligaments of the fingers.This leads to pain during active and passive movements with specific clicks.X-rays help with diagnosis;pathological changes will not be visible on images with ligamentitis.As a rule, local treatment of this disease, for example, anesthetic ointment, is more effective than for other lesions.
Acute infectious arthritis
In most cases, infectious lesions occur in the form of monoarthritis - damage to one joint, rarely two or more joints are involved in the pathological process.This pathology can be caused by any pathological microorganism that can enter the joint directly from the external environment, be transported by the bloodstream or penetrate from neighboring tissues.Infectious arthritis manifests itself by severe pain, inflammation and disruption of the patient's general condition.
Establishing the true cause of pain in the finger joints plays a very important role, because once you recognize the enemy visually, it becomes much easier to fight him.Therefore, the treatment of joint pathology must be primarily etiological, then symptomatic.