Arm and leg joints hurt, what should I do? Pain in the joints of the legs and arms: causes and treatment

If the joints of the arms and legs hurt, what should one do in such a situation? Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is to go to the clinic and see your local doctor, and he will know what it is: prescribe a test or refer you to a specialist. However, many of us know how difficult it is to find time to go to a medical facility, because to do this you have to take time off from work, then, most likely, sit in a queue there or prepare some money for a visit to a paid medical center.

In general, people have many reasons to self-medicate at home. And it is not so rare that this actually helps. Well, in our article, you will find some folk recipes that help with various types of joint pain, as well as a list of pharmacological drugs designed specifically to solve the problem. But first, we advise you to take seriously reading the next chapter of our story.

The importance of making a correct diagnosis

Asking everyone they meet: "If the joints of the arms and legs hurt, what should you do? ", People often do not understand that the pain that worries them may be the initial stage of a serious disease, the development of which can stop or slow down at an early stage, when the destruction process in the joint is not too far.

Pain in the joints of the hands often bothers older people

Carry out treatment independently with the help of lotions, rubs, poultices, etc. , a sick person exposes his health to great risk. After all, home remedies are not completely safe and may be contraindicated for certain diseases.

For example, there is an opinion that to solve joint problems quickly there is nothing better than warming up. But this is not true at all! If the disease is accompanied by swelling, an acute inflammatory process occurs in the diseased joint, and an increase in local temperature is observed, then applying heat to the problem area can only worsen the situation. If the joints of the arms and legs are painful, the cause, symptoms, and treatment regimen should be discussed first with a specialist (rheumatologist, orthopedic specialist or traumatologist).

We will not criticize folk remedies here: they can be an excellent help in the fight against various diseases, but only after the doctor makes a correct diagnosis and gives recommendations about what can benefit the joints and what will cause harm.

Various causes of joint pain

Why the joints hurt and what to do in this case will be easier to understand if you know about the causes that cause pain, pain in the limbs and limitations of their motor functions. Here are some of the most common joint diseases:

  1. Rheumatoid arthritis.Chronic diseases in which the inflammatory process is observed in the connective tissue. Characteristic symptoms that accompany arthritis:

    • Pain in one or more joints increases gradually over a period of one to two weeks or may occur suddenly. During rest, the pain increases, especially in the morning.
    • Rheumatoid arthritis can affect both the large joints of the arms and legs (wrist, ankle, elbow, knee) and the small joints of the feet and hands. Inflammation of one joint is called monoarthritis, and inflammation of several joints is called polyarthritis.
    • One of the symptoms of the disease in question is the limited mobility of the affected limbs in the first hour after waking up in the morning.
    • The disease is accompanied by a significant enlargement of the joints, redness of the skin in the problem area and increased sensitivity.
  2. Joint pain.With this chronic disease, all organs (heart, kidneys, lymphatic system, etc. ), including joints, are gradually affected. This process can last for years. It is very important to start treatment as early as possible. One of the most characteristic signs of new rheumatism is joint pain that occurs periodically, sometimes accompanied by high body temperature and swelling.

  3. Arthrosis.A disease associated with dystrophic-degenerative changes occurring in the cartilage, with the gradual involvement of bones, ligaments, and synovial tissue in the pathological process. The most common arthrosis is the knee, hip and elbow joints. Main symptoms:

    • the main symptom is pain that occurs when moving or putting pressure on the affected joint;
    • gradual restriction of movement. If the disease is not treated in time, the process can develop quickly, which will eventually lead to disability.
  4. Injuries, bruises, physical load on joints.

  5. Gout- one of the types of arthritis.

Pain in the joints of the arms and legs caused by various diseases

Arm and leg joints hurt: what to do?

Let's outline the main steps that need to be taken consistently in case of joint pain:

  1. Before finding out the cause of the pain, you should try to give rest to the joint.
  2. Take some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
  3. Contact a medical facility to determine the cause of the pain.
  4. Get detailed recommendations from your doctor about the treatment regimen and medications to take, as well as consult about traditional treatment methods, if you are going to use them.
If you have joint pain, you should see a doctor.

Treatment of arthritis

Arthritis is most often severe pain in the joints of the hands. What to do in this situation? Patients must understand that treatment requires several complex steps. After all, it is necessary not only to relieve symptomatic pain, but also to slow down the inflammatory process, restore normal blood flow in the affected tissue and cartilage, etc. For this, the doctor may prescribe, in addition to non-steroidal anti-steroids. -inflammatory drugs, antibiotics. In the framework of this article, we can provide an excellent recipe from traditional medicine.

For arthritis, honey-cabbage compresses are very helpful. You should do it before going to bed. You need to take fresh cabbage leaves, heat them, grease them with a thin layer of honey and apply the coated part to the sore spot. Compressed, covered with cellophane on top, wrapped and wrapped in a warm woolen scarf. In the morning the patient will definitely feel relieved.

Therapeutic compression will help relieve pain in the joints of the limbs.

The role of proper nutrition

The joints of the legs and arms often hurt due to metabolic disorders in the body. Gout is one of the types of arthritis, which is often a companion of modern people, especially tormenting the stronger sex. Probably everyone has heard this term: "salt deposits in the joints. "Some people think that it is all about ordinary table salt, but this is not so.

With gout, uric acid salts are deposited in the joints, and this happens because of the constant consumption of meat, fatty fish and alcohol. Smoking also contributes to the development of the pathological process. If the joints of your fingers and toes become very swollen and painful, then perhaps the discomfort indicates the presence of gout.

This disease is easier to prevent than to cure. The main recommendation to prevent this disease is proper nutrition. There is nothing complicated: you need to introduce more vegetables, whole grain cereals, fruits, cottage cheese into your diet and stop drinking tobacco and alcohol.

Osteoarthritis. Treatment

Today, quite a lot of people complain that the joints in their arms and legs hurt. What to do if the pain is caused by arthrosis? Here, too, most likely, you cannot do without NSAIDs: they will help quickly relieve the torment. Consultation with a doctor is required. An X-ray should be taken - it will help the doctor determine the degree of joint destruction.

In the treatment of arthrosis, along with anti-inflammatory drugs, the use of chondroprotectors (substances that restore articular cartilage) plays an important role.

A good alternative natural chondroprotector is plain gelatin, which can be bought in stores. This product should be diluted in warm water and drunk several times a day. And for the fastest cartilage recovery, it is recommended to prepare homemade jelly or jelly meat more often; it also contains a large amount of natural substances from which cartilage tissue is built.

Pharmaceuticals

Several times when we mentioned in our article the question "what to do if the joints of the arms and legs hurt, " we wrote that pain and inflammation can be well removed by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs for short. When treating joints, ointments from this group are very effective.

For severe pain, you can go beyond just external ointments and take highly effective NSAIDs in tablet or powder form.

Physiotherapy

If painful joint pain persists, the doctor may consider it necessary for the patient to undergo some physical procedures:

  • UHF;
  • phonophoresis or electrophoresis;
  • UV irradiation;
  • magnetic therapy;
  • transcutaneous electrical stimulation;
  • paraffin baths and rubs, etc.

Joint treatment with ointment prepared according to traditional recipes

We continue to consider the main topic of the article: "What to do if your joints hurt? "Treatment with independently prepared ointments can be an excellent addition to the procedures prescribed by the doctor. What are these medicines and how to make them?

  1. Ointment for rheumatism.To prepare it, you need 100 g of mustard powder and 200 g of table salt, which must be mixed together, then add enough kerosene to the resulting mustard salt mixture to obtain a mass similar to the thickness of village sour cream. The medicine is applied to the sore spot at night.
  2. Arthritis ointment made from honey and egg yolk.Take an egg yolk, a block of beeswax (small) and 1 tbsp. l. loveFirst, the egg yolk is heated in a water bath, where the wax is then crushed and honey is poured. Everything is mixed to form a homogeneous ointment. To use, take a piece of gauze folded in several layers, place a hot mass on it, and in this form the medicine is applied to the joint and fixed firmly with a bandage.
  3. Ointment for the treatment of joints with arthrosis.Take equal parts nettle leaves, juniper berries (green) and sheep oil. The berries and leaves are thoroughly crushed in a mortar and then combined with oil. The prepared ointment should be rubbed into the joint in the morning and evening.
Ointments prepared from folk remedies will relieve pain in the joints of the hands and feet

Activated carbon treatment

There is a simple but effective way to treat joints with gout. To do this, you need activated carbon. You need to make a paste from this product. This is done as follows: tablets from several packs of coal are ground into a powder, to which a little water and 1 tablespoon are added. spoon of crushed flax seeds. After thorough mixing, the paste is applied to the sore joints overnight, after which it is wrapped and wrapped warmly until the morning.

Clay therapy

Here is another very good folk remedy if the joints of the legs and arms are sore. We have discussed the causes and treatment of many diseases and found that different diseases should be treated differently. But there is an almost universal recipe - compresses, baths, clay bandages, which can be used for arthrosis, arthritis, and rheumatic pain. Clay perfectly relieves pain, relieves inflammation and swelling, sucks toxins out of the body, etc.

Physical education and sports: benefit or harm for joints

Those who are too fond of sports activities often suffer from joint pain. What should you do if your knees and ankles hurt after a long, grueling run that seems to be done in the name of health? First, reconsider your lifestyle. Any excess is dangerous - this statement can also be applied to sports.

Excessive exercise causes knee pain

To relieve yourself from constant discomfort in the joints of the legs, sometimes it is enough for a person to simply reduce physical activity. Jogging or walking (for older people), morning exercise, yoga, and swimming are good for improving health. All of the above are unlikely to cause pain in your joints. On the other hand, such physical education will fill them with strength and endurance.

Final word

We hope that the information presented in the article will help those who suffer from pain in the joints of their arms and legs. Diseases and methods of treatment, folk recipes and lists of medicines - all these materials were carefully studied by us in advance and only then presented for public viewing. Use this information for your health, and may your joints always be normal!