My 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 a person do in such a situation? Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is to go to the clinic and consult your local doctor, and he will understand what to do: prescribe tests or refer you to some specialist. However, many of us know how difficult it can be to find time to go to a medical facility, because to do so you will need to take time off from work and then, most likely, stand in line or prepare a certain amount of money for a visit to a paid medical center.

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

The importance of making the correct diagnosis

Asking everyone they meet: "If the joints of your 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 it can be stopped or slowed down in the initial stage, when the destructive processes in the joints have not yet gone too far.

Carrying out the treatment independently with the help of lotions, rubs, poultices, etc. , A sick person exposes his health to considerable risks. After all, home remedies are not safe at all and may be contraindicated for some diseases.

For example, it is believed that to quickly solve joint problems there is nothing better than warming up. But this is not true at all! If the disease is accompanied by swelling, acute inflammatory processes occur in the diseased joints, and a local increase in temperature is observed, applying heat to the problem area can only worsen the situation. If the joints of the arms and legs hurt, the causes, symptoms and treatment regimens should first be discussed with specialists (rheumatologist, orthopedist or traumatologist).

We will not criticize folk remedies here - they can be of great help in the fight against various diseases, but only after the doctor has made the correct diagnosis and given recommendations on what can benefit the joints and what will cause harm.

Various causes of joint pain

Why joints hurt and what to do in such cases will be much easier to understand if you know the reasons that cause pain, pain in the limbs and limitation of motor functions. Here are some of the most common joint diseases:

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

   • Pain in one or more joints increases gradually over a week or two or may come on suddenly. At rest, the pain intensifies, 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, while inflammation of multiple joints is called polyarthritis.
   • One of the symptoms of the disease in question is the limited mobility of the affected limbs during the first hours after waking up in the morning.
   • The disease is accompanied by noticeable enlargement of the joints, redness of the skin in the problem area and increased sensitivity.

2. Rheumatism.With this chronic disease, all organs are gradually affected (heart, kidneys, 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 signs of incipient 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 bone, ligament and synovial tissues in the pathological process. The most common osteoarthritis affects the knee, hip and elbow joints. Main symptoms:

   • the main symptom is pain that occurs when the affected joint is moved or subjected to stress;
   • gradual limitation of mobility. If the disease is not treated in time, the process can progress rapidly, which will ultimately lead to disability.

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

5. Gout- one of the types of arthritis.

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

We describe the main steps to be taken consistently in case of joint pain:

1. Before finding out the causes of pain, you should try to give your joints rest.
2. Take some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine.
3. Contact a medical facility to find out the causes of the pain.
4. Get detailed advice from your doctor regarding the treatment regimen and medications to take, as well as consult on traditional treatment methods, if you intend to use them.

Arthritis treatment

Arthritis is often severe pain in the joints of the hands. What to do in this situation? The patient must understand that treatment will require a number of complex measures. 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 tissues and cartilage, etc. For this, the doctor may prescribe, in addition to non-steroidal painkillers - inflammatory drugs, antibiotics. Within the framework of this article, we can provide an excellent recipe of traditional medicine.

For arthritis, a compress of cabbage and honey is very useful. You need to do this before going to bed. You need to take a fresh cabbage leaf, heat it, grease it with a thin layer of honey and apply the coated side to the sore spot. The compress is covered on top with cellophane, bandaged and wrapped in a warm woolen scarf. In the morning the patient will definitely feel relieved.

The role of proper nutrition

The joints of the legs and arms often hurt due to metabolic disorders in the body. Gout disease is one of the types of arthritis, a frequent companion of modern people, especially torments the stronger sex. Probably everyone has heard this term: "deposition of salts in the joints". Some people think it's all about regular table salt, but that's not the case.

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

This disease is easier to prevent than cure. The main recommendation to prevent the disease is proper nutrition. Nothing complicated: you need to introduce more vegetables, whole grains, fruits, cottage cheese into your diet and give up tobacco and alcoholic libations.

Osteoarthritis. Treatment

Today many people complain of pain in the joints of the arms and legs. What to do if the pain is caused by osteoarthritis? Here, too, most likely, you cannot do without NSAIDs - they will help quickly relieve the torment. Consultation with a doctor is necessary. It will be necessary to take an x-ray - it will help the doctor determine the degree of destruction of the joints.

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

A good alternative natural chondroprotector is ordinary gelatin, which can be purchased in stores. This product should be diluted in warm water and drunk several times a day. And for faster restoration of cartilage, it is recommended to more often prepare homemade jelly or jellied meat, which also contains large amounts of natural substances from which cartilage tissue is built.

Pharmaceutical products

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

In case of intense pain you can go beyond simple external ointments and take highly effective NSAIDs in the form of tablets or powders.

Physiotherapy

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

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

Treatment of joints with ointments prepared according to traditional recipes

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

1. Ointment for rheumatism.To prepare it you will need 100 g of mustard powder and 200 g of table salt, which will need to be mixed together, and then add enough kerosene to the resulting mustard-salt mixture to obtain a mass similar in thickness to village sour cream. The medicine is rubbed into the sore spots at night.
2. Arthritis ointment made from honey and egg yolks.Take one egg yolk, one block of beeswax (small) and 1 tbsp. L. HoneyFirst, the yolk is heated in a water bath, into which the wax is then crumbled and honey is poured. Everything is mixed until a homogeneous ointment is formed. For use, take a piece of gauze folded in several layers, place a warm mass on it, and in this form the medicine is applied to the joint and securely fixed with a bandage.
3. Ointment for the treatment of joints with arthrosis.Take equal parts of nettle leaves, juniper berries (green) and sheep oil. The berries and leaves are carefully crushed in a mortar and then combined with the oil. The prepared ointment should be massaged into the joints in the morning and evening.

Activated carbon treatment

There is a simple but effective way to treat joints with gout. To do this you will need activated charcoal. You will need to create a paste from this product. This is done as follows: tablets from several packs of coal are ground into powder, to which a little water and 1 tbsp are added. tablespoon of chopped flaxseeds. After thorough mixing, the paste is smeared on the sore joint overnight, after which it is bandaged and wrapped warmly until the morning.

Clay therapy

Here is another excellent folk method of healing if the joints of the legs and arms hurt. We have already 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 compresses, which can be used for arthrosis, arthritis and rheumatic pain. Clay perfectly calms pain, relieves inflammation and swelling, draws toxins from the body, etc.

Physical education and sport: benefits or harm for the joints

Those who are too fond of sporting activity often suffer from joint pain. What should you do if your knees and ankles hurt after long, exhausting runs that seem like they were done in the name of health? First, reconsider your lifestyle. Any excesses are harmful: this statement can also be applied to sport.

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 exercise, yoga and swimming are useful for improving health. All of the above are unlikely to cause joint pain. On the contrary, 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 the arms and legs. Diseases and methods of treatment, folk recipes and a list of drugs - all these materials were carefully studied by us in advance and only then presented to the public. Use this information for your health and may your joints always be normal!