The joints of my arms and legs 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 you do in such a situation? Of course, the first thing that comes to your mind is to go to the clinic and visit the local doctor, who will figure out what it is: prescribe tests or refer you to a specialist. However, many of us know how difficult it can be to find time to go to a medical facility, because for this you need to take time off from work, and then you will most likely have to sit in line or prepare a certain amount. money to visit a paid medical center.

In general, people have many reasons for self-medicating at home. And it is not so rare that it really helps. Well, in our article you will find many folk recipes that help with various types of joint pain, as well as a list of pharmacological drugs designed specifically to solve such problems. But first, we advise you to get serious about reading the next chapter of our story.

The importance of establishing the correct diagnosis

If they ask 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 can be the initial stage of a serious disease, the development of which has stopped or slowed down in the initial stage, when the destructive processes taking place in the joints have not gone too far.

If the treatment is performed independently, with lotions, rubbing, poultices, etc. carries out, exposes the health of the sick person to a significant risk. After all, home remedies are not at all safe and may be contraindicated in certain diseases.

For example, there is an opinion that there is nothing better than warming up to quickly solve joint problems. But that's not true at all! If the disease is accompanied by swelling, acute inflammatory processes occur in the diseased joints, and a local temperature rise is observed, then heat treatment of the problem area can only worsen the situation. If the joints of the arms and legs hurt, the causes, symptoms and treatment regimen should first of all be discussed with a specialist (rheumatologist, orthopedist 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 correctly diagnoses and gives recommendations on what can benefit the joints and what can cause harm.

Different causes of joint pain

Why the joints hurt and what to do in these cases is much easier to understand if you know the reasons that cause pain, limb pain and limitation of their movement functions. Here are the most common joint diseases:

1. Rheumatoid arthritis.A chronic disease in which inflammatory processes are observed in the connective tissues. The typical symptoms accompanying arthritis:

   • The pain in one or more joints gradually increases over a week or two, or it can appear suddenly. The pain increases at rest, especially in the morning.
   • Rheumatoid arthritis can affect the large joints of the arms and legs (wrist, ankle, elbow, knee) as well as 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 limited movement of the affected limbs in the first hours after waking up in the morning.
   • The disease is accompanied by a noticeable enlargement of the joints, redness and increased sensitivity in the problem area.

2. Rheumatism.This chronic disease gradually affects all organs (heart, kidney, lymphatic system, etc. ), including the joints. The process can take many years. It is very important to start treatment as soon as possible. One of the most characteristic symptoms of incipient rheumatism is periodic joint pain, sometimes accompanied by increased body temperature and swelling.

3. Arthrosis.A disease characterized by dystrophic-degenerative changes occurring in cartilage tissue, with the gradual involvement of bone, ligament and joint tissues 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 when loading the affected joint;
   • gradual restriction of mobility. If the disease is not treated in time, the process can progress rapidly, ultimately leading to disability.

4. Injuries, bruises, physical overload of the joints.

5. Gout- a type of arthritis.

The joints of the arms and legs hurt: what to do?

Here are the main steps to take consistently when you have joint pain:

1. Before finding out the causes of the pain, you should try to rest the joints.
2. Take some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
3. Contact a medical facility to find out the cause of the pain.
4. Ask your doctor for detailed recommendations regarding the treatment regimen and medications to be taken, as well as consult about traditional treatment methods if you wish to use them.

Treatment of arthritis

Arthritis is most often severe pain in the joints of the hand. What to do in this situation? The patient must understand that the treatment requires many complex measures. After all, it is not only necessary to alleviate the pain associated with the symptoms, but also to slow down the inflammatory process, restore normal blood flow to the affected tissues and cartilage, etc. For this, the doctor can also prescribe non-steroidal antibodies. - anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics. Within the framework of this article, we can provide an excellent recipe from traditional medicine.

Honey-cabbage poultice is very useful for arthritis. You should do it before going to bed. Take a fresh cabbage leaf, heat it, spread it with a thin layer of honey, and apply the coated side to the sore spot. The poultice is covered with cellophane, tied and wrapped in a warm woolen scarf. In the morning, the patient will certainly feel relief.

The role of proper nutrition

The joints of the legs and arms often ache due to metabolic disturbances in the body. Gout is a type of arthritis, a frequent companion of modern people, especially the stronger sex. Everyone has probably heard the term "deposit of salts in the joints". Some people think that it is common table salt, but it is not so.

In the case of gout, uric acid salts are deposited in the joints, and this occurs due to the continuous consumption of meat, fatty fish and alcohol. Smoking also contributes to the development of the pathological process. If the joints of the fingers and toes are very swollen and painful, then the discomfort indicates the presence of gout.

This disease is easier to prevent than to cure. The main recommendation for the prevention of the disease is proper nutrition. Nothing complicated: you need to introduce more vegetables, whole grains, fruits, cottage cheese into your diet and stop smoking and alcohol.

Osteoarthritis. Treatment

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

Along with anti-inflammatory drugs, the intake of chondroprotectors (substances that restore joint cartilage) plays an important role in the treatment of arthrosis.

A good alternative natural chondroprotector is ordinary gelatin, which can be bought in stores. This product should be diluted in warm water and drunk several times a day. In order to restore the cartilage tissues as quickly as possible, it is recommended to make homemade jelly or jellied meat more often, which also contains a large amount of natural substances from which the cartilage tissue is built.

Pharmaceutical products

When we repeatedly mentioned the question "what to do if the joints of the arms and legs hurt" in our article, we wrote that pain and inflammation are well alleviated by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, NSAIDs for short. When treating joints, this group includesointments are very effective.

For severe pain, you can go beyond topical ointments and take very effective NSAIDs in pill or powder form.

Physiotherapy

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

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

Treatment of joints with ointments prepared according to traditional recipes

We continue to look at the main topic of this article: "What to do if your joints hurt? "Treatment with self-prepared ointments can be an excellent supplement to the procedures prescribed by the doctor. What are these remedies and how should they be prepared?

1. Ointment rheumatism.To prepare it, you need 100 g of mustard powder and 200 g of table salt, they must be mixed together, and enough petroleum must be added to the resulting mustard-salt mixture to obtain a mass similar in thickness to village sour cream. The medicine is rubbed into the painful places at night.
2. Arthritis ointment made from honey and egg yolk.Take an egg yolk, a block of beeswax (a little) and 1 tbsp. l. honey, First, the yolk is heated in a water bath, into which the wax is crumbled and honey is poured. We mix everything to get a homogeneous ointment. For use, take a piece of gauze folded in several layers, put a hot mass on it, and in this form the medicine is applied to the joint and fixed with a bandage.
3. Ointment for the treatment of arthritic joints.Take equal parts of nettle leaves, juniper berries (green) and sheep oil. Crush the berries and leaves thoroughly in a mortar and mix with oil. The prepared ointment should be rubbed into the joints in the morning and evening.

Activated carbon treatment

There is a simple but effective way to treat gouty joints. For this you will need activated carbon. You need to make a paste from this product. This is done as follows: several packages of charcoal tablets are ground into powder, to which a little water and 1 tbsp. spoon of crushed flaxseed. After thorough mixing, the paste is applied to the painful joint overnight, then bandaged and wrapped warm until morning.

Clay therapy

Here is another excellent folk remedy for aching joints in the legs and arms. We have already discussed the causes and treatment of many diseases and realized that different diseases need to be treated differently. But there is an almost universal recipe - poultices, baths, clay wraps, which can be used for arthrosis, arthritis and rheumatic pains. Clay perfectly soothes pain, relieves inflammation and swelling, removes toxins from the body, etc.

Physical education and sports: benefits or harm to the joints

People who are too fond of sports often suffer from joint pain. What to do when your knees and ankles hurt after long, grueling runs that seem to be done in the name of health? First, think about your lifestyle. All excess is harmful - this statement can also be applied to sports.

In order to get rid of the feeling of constant discomfort in the joints of the legs, sometimes it is enough for a person to simply reduce physical activity. Jogging or walking (for the elderly), morning exercises, yoga and swimming are good for improving health. It is unlikely that all of the above will cause pain in the joints. On the contrary, such physical education fills them with strength and endurance.

Last word

We hope that the information presented in this article will help those who have pain in the joints of the arms and legs. List of diseases and treatment methods, folk recipes and medicines - all these materials were thoroughly studied in advance and only then placed for public viewing. Use this information for your health and keep your joints normal!