The human body has more than 300 joints: from the largest - the hip and shoulder, to the smallest - the joints of the fingers and toes. And each of them is important and necessary for health and a fulfilling life. Mild and unreasonable, at first glance, pain in the joints of the legs and arms can indicate serious disorders of the body, problems with the circulatory and metabolic systems. Therefore, contacting an osteopathic specialist at the first manifestations of pain in the joints will be the right and timely decision. After all, it is osteopathy with its idea of the body as a complex interconnected system of the skeleton, joints, muscles and internal organs that provides the most logical statement of joint diseases and demonstrates high efficiency in their treatment.
Numbness and pain in the hand. Causes and diseases
Hand pain and numbness in the hands are usually caused by dysfunction (damage) of the cardiovascular system. Also, the causes can be neuralgic diseases of the cervical spine, pinched nerves of the hands. In heart disease, numbness in the left hand is often noted, which begins as a slight decrease in sensation in the little and ring fingers and gradually spreads along the limb to the forearm, mainly affecting the inside.
Pain in the joints of both hands, accompanied by numbness of the thumb and index finger - and sometimes the middle finger - indicates violations of the cervical spine, possible pinched nerves, displacement of the intervertebral discs or the vertebrae themselves.
Numbness in the fingertips, most likely, indicates a lack in the body of vitamins A and B. This symptom is most pronounced in late winter and early spring, when the body is as exhausted as possible.
At the age of 45 and above, numbness, achieving complete inability to move the hand, even after small loads on the joints (sewing, knitting, keyboard work) can indicate atherosclerosis of the vessels of the hands, as well as damage to the elbow and shoulder joints.
Many age-related diseases and previous injuries manifest themselves in the form of pain in the joints of the hands. Stretching, bruising and cracks of the navicular and lunate bones of the hand may be unhealed at the same time, left unattended. The consequences of such an inattentive approach threaten the partial or total loss of mobility. In addition, the diagnosis of fractures and cracks is quite simple, both with the use of X-rays and during a visit to an osteopath. The latter is also able to help with the consequences of such injuries, eliminating possible bone displacements and damage to blood vessels, pinching of nerve endings that cause pain.
Occupational diseases of the joints of the hands
Pain in the joints of the hands can be caused by their regular overexertion, performing monotonous physical exercises, adverse external influences on the joints. Most injuries and illnesses resulting from such exposure can be classified as occupational.
So the joints of the hands often suffer in the following categories:
- People who spend a lot of time on the computer. In right-handers, the right hand is more often affected, in left-handers, the left. Due to the constant presence of the hand in the same position - on a computer mouse - swelling of the ligaments (tendons) and the nearby nerve occurs. Over time, increased wrist pain can lead to numbness and even complete inability to move your hand. The disease was called - "Tunnel Syndrome";
- Pregnant women. "Tunnel syndrome" also manifests itself in them, becoming more pronounced after 3-4 months of pregnancy. Usually, pain in the joints of the hands is preceded by swelling, characteristic of late pregnancy. They, in combination with the increase in body weight, lead to the violation of the carpal nerve. Pain can be expressed in varying degrees from slight discomfort in the joint to complete numbness in the hands. Usually, after the birth of a child, the functionality of the joints is restored;
- Pianists, tailors, washerwomen, cleaners. Due to constant stress, which falls mainly on the tendon muscles responsible for the work of the thumb, pain in the hand is localized in this area. Diagnosing the disease at an early stage makes it relatively easy to deal with. The main thing is to contact an osteopath before the formation of growths of scar tissue begins to change. This is usually preceded by pronounced pain, inflammation and swelling of the joints;
- Crane operators, carpenters, builders working with jack tools. The so-called Kienböck's disease (avascular necrosis of the wrist bones) develops as a result of a severe injury or regular microtrauma of the hand joint. The disease is caused by a violation of blood circulation in the wrist area, as a result of which severe pain develops in the joint of the hand, and subsequently changes and destruction of bone tissue begin. Usually, the joints of the hand that is a person's worker suffer.
Other causes of pain in the joints of the hands
Pain in the joints of the hands can be localized not only in the area of the hands. The shoulder and elbow joints are equally often affected. Usually, their injuries are caused by injuries to the hands, spine, as well as age-related diseases and changes, which lead to thinning of the cartilage tissue in the joints. In any case, the treatment can be different, depending on the complexity and severity of the disease. Only an experienced osteopathic specialist can diagnose why there is pain in the hand, a creak in the joint and other hand mobility disorders.
Osteopathic treatment of pain in the joints of the hands
Pain in the joints of the hands is not always directly caused by damage to these same joints. On the contrary, the root causes of the disease are often quite far from the hands. That is why treatment can only be effective if it aims to eliminate the underlying causes. This is the approach practiced by osteopaths. At the same time, complex methods demonstrate high efficiency in case of pain in the hands, when manual techniques are combined with moderate physical activity and, in parallel, the patient's nutrition is corrected and the primary source of the disease is affected.
In the first stage of treatment, pain in the arm joint is always stopped. This makes the patient's body more responsive to osteopathic influences and allows him to completely relax during the session. Since the sessions themselves take place with rather long breaks (1-2 weeks) necessary for the body to recover and adapt to the changes introduced in its functioning by the osteopath, it is recommended to fix the joint in a fixed position for this period. For this, splints, corsets, various support bandages, etc. can be used.
After the pain in the arm joint has been eliminated, the osteopath begins to relieve muscle spasms and eliminate blockages that interfere with normal blood circulation in areas near the joints and throughout the body as a whole. The restoration of blood supply to the affected area improves the nutrition of the tissues, as a result of which the pain does not return, and the joints themselves begin to gradually recover.
At the stage of recovery, proper nutrition is very important, which will allow the body and damaged areas to receive all the necessary set of trace elements, vitamins and nutrients. Thanks to the gradual renewal and restoration of tissues, the joints of the hands acquire lost mobility, not only the pain disappears, but also the sensations of numbness and discomfort.
To maintain the improving condition of the hands, the joint must be gradually loaded in order to consolidate positive tendencies and strengthen the hand muscles. Physiotherapeutic procedures and physiotherapy exercises must be performed under the close supervision of a specialist and be standardized. If the pain returns to the joints of the hands, it is necessary to reduce the load.
In parallel with the treatment of the hands, the root causes of the disease are affected: the spine, the cervical region, the internal organs. Osteopathic techniques are aimed at improving blood supply and metabolism in the body as a whole, which, of course, has a positive effect on the work of all its systems. The advantage of turning to an osteopath in this case is that while it treats the pain in the hand, it simultaneously relieves other deeper ailments that have become the root cause of this pain.
Pain in the hand joint is not always a violation in the wrist area, so traditional treatment with symptomatic methods may not work. While an osteopath, who perceives the problem more broadly, is able to help in a few sessions.