My joints in 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 a person 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 figure out what's what: 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 center, because for this you will have to take time off from work and then, most likely, stand in line there or prepare a certain amount of money for a visit to a medical center. paid medical center.

In general, people have many reasons to self-medicate at home. And it's not that strange that this actually helps. Well, in our article you will find several popular recipes that will help with joint pain of various types, as well as a list of pharmacological medications 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 making the correct diagnosis

When asking everyone they know: "If the joints in your arms and legs hurt, what to do? ", people often do not understand that the pain that worries them can be the initial stage of a serious illness, the development of which It can be stopped or slowed down at the initial stage, when the destructive processes in the joints have not yet gone too far.

When carrying out treatment independently with the help of lotions, rubs, poultices, etc. , a sick person exposes his or her health to considerable risk. After all, folk remedies are not so safe and may be contraindicated for certain diseases.

For example, there is an opinion 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, the application of heat to the problem area can only worsen the situation. If the joints of your arms and legs hurt, the causes, symptoms and treatment regimens should, first of all, be discussed with specialists (rheumatologist, orthopedist or traumatologist).

We are not going to criticize folk remedies here: they can be of great help in the fight against various diseases, but only after the doctor makes the correct diagnosis and gives recommendations on what can benefit the joints and what will harm.

Various causes of joint pain.

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

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

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

2. Rheumatism.With this chronic disease, all organs (heart, kidneys, lymphatic system, etc. ), including the joints, are gradually affected. 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 increased body temperature and swelling.

3. Osteoarthritis.Disease associated with dystrophic-degenerative changes that occur in cartilage, with the gradual participation of bone, ligamentous and synovial tissues in the pathological process. The most common osteoarthritis is that of 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 mobility. If the disease is not treated in time, the process can progress rapidly and ultimately lead to disability.

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

5. Drop- one of the types of arthritis.

My joints in my arms and legs hurt: what to do?

Let's summarize the main steps that should be taken consistently in case of joint pain:

1. Before discovering the causes of pain, it is worth trying to give the joints rest.
2. Take some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication.
3. Contact a medical center to find out the causes of the pain.
4. Get detailed recommendations from your doctor about the treatment regimen and medications to take, as well as ask about traditional treatment methods, if you are going to use them.

Arthritis treatment

Arthritis is usually severe pain in the joints of the hands. what do in this situation? The patient must understand that the treatment will require a series 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. To do this, the doctor may prescribe, in addition to non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, -inflammatory drugs, antibiotics. Within the framework of this article, we can give an excellent recipe for traditional medicine.

For arthritis, a compress of cabbage and honey is very useful. You should do it 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 area. The compress is covered with cellophane on top, bandaged and wrapped in a warm woolen scarf. In the morning the patient will surely feel relief.

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, it especially torments the stronger sex. Probably everyone has heard of this term: "salt deposition in the joints. "Some people think that this is regular table salt, but that is not the case.

In gout, uric acid salts are deposited in the joints, and this happens due to 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 the disease is adequate nutrition. Nothing complicated: it is necessary to introduce more vegetables, whole grains, fruits, cottage cheese into your diet and give up tobacco and alcoholic libations.

Osteoarthritis. Treatment

Nowadays, many people complain that their joints in their arms and legs hurt. What to do if the pain is caused by osteoarthritis? Most likely, in this case too, you will not be able to do without NSAIDs: they will help to quickly relieve the torment. Consultation with a doctor is required. It will be necessary to take an x-ray, which will help the doctor determine the degree of destruction of the joints.

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

A good alternative to 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. And for faster restoration of cartilage, it is recommended to prepare homemade gelatin or jellied meat more often; It also contains large amounts of natural substances from which cartilage tissue is formed.

Pharmaceutical products

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 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.

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

Physiotherapy

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

• ultrahigh frequency;
• phonophoresis or electrophoresis;
• ultraviolet irradiation;
• magnetic therapy;
• 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 your joints hurt? " Treatment with self-prepared ointments can be an excellent complement to procedures prescribed by a doctor. What are these remedies and how to do them?

1. Ointment for rheumatism.To prepare it, you will need 100 g of mustard powder and 200 g of table salt, which must be mixed, then add enough kerosene to the resulting mustard-salt mixture to obtain a dough similar in thickness to village sour cream. The medicine is rubbed into sore spots at night.
2. Ointment for arthritis 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. Mix everything until forming a homogeneous ointment. For use, a piece of gauze folded in several layers is taken, a hot mass is placed on it, and in this way the medicine is applied to the joint and firmly fixed with a bandage.
3. Ointment for the treatment of joints with osteoarthritis.Take equal parts of nettle leaves, juniper berries (green) and sheep oil. The berries and leaves are crushed well in a mortar and then combined 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. To do this you will need activated charcoal. You will need to make a paste with this product. This is done as follows: tablets from several packs of charcoal are ground into powder, to which a little water and 1 tbsp. tablespoon of crushed flaxseed. After mixing well, the paste is smeared on the sore joint overnight, after which it is bandaged and wrapped with heat until morning.

clay therapy

Here is another excellent folk method to cure 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 need to be treated differently. But there is an almost universal recipe: compresses, baths, clay wraps, which can be used for osteoarthritis, arthritis and rheumatic pain. Clay perfectly relieves pain, relieves inflammation and swelling, removes toxins from the body, etc.

Physical education and sport: benefits or harms for the joints

Those who play too many sports often suffer from joint pain. What should you do if your knees and ankles hurt after long, grueling runs that seem to be done in the name of health? First, reconsider your lifestyle. Any excess is harmful; This statement can also be applied to sports.

To relieve the feeling of constant discomfort in the joints of the legs, sometimes it is enough for a person to simply reduce physical activity. Running or walking (for older people), morning exercises, yoga and swimming are good for improving health. All of the above are unlikely to cause you joint pain. On the contrary, this physical education will fill them with strength and endurance.

final word

We hope that the information presented in the article will help those who have pain in the joints of the arms and legs. Diseases and methods of treatment, folk recipes and a list of medicines - all these materials were carefully studied in advance and only then presented to the public. Use this information for your health and that your joints are always normal!