The human body has more than 300 joints: from the largest - the hips and shoulders, to the smallest - the joints of the toes and feet. And each of them is important and necessary for health and a full life. Minor and unreasonable pain, at first glance, in the joints of the legs and hands can indicate serious disorders in the body, problems with the circulatory system and metabolism. Therefore, contact with an osteopathic specialist at the first manifestations of joint pain will be the right and timely decision. After all, it is osteopathy with its idea of the body as a complex interconnected system of skeleton, joints, muscles and internal organs that gives the most logical statement of joint diseases and shows high efficiency in their treatment.
Numbness and pain in the hand. Causes and diseases
Pain in the hand and numbness of the hands are usually caused by dysfunction (damage) of the cardiovascular system. Also, the causes can be neuralgic diseases of the cervical spine, tight nerves of the hands. In heart disease is often observed numbness of the left hand, which begins as a slight decrease in the sensitivity of the little finger and ring and gradually spreads along the limb to the forearm, affecting mainly the inner part.
Pain in the joints of both hands, accompanied by numbness of the thumb and forefinger - and sometimes the middle - indicates violations in the cervical spine, possible constricted nerves, displacement of the intervertebral discs or the vertebrae themselves.
Numbness of the fingertips, most likely, indicates a lack of vitamins A and B in the body. 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 up, numbness, achieving complete inability to move the hand, even after small loads on the joints (suturing, knitting, keyboard work) may indicate atherosclerosis of the vessels of the hands, as well as injury. at the elbow and shoulder joints.
Many age-related diseases and previous injuries appear in the form of pain in the joints of the hands. It can not be cured at the same time by stretching, bruising and cracking of the navicular and lumbar bones of the hand, left unattended. The consequences of such a careless approach threaten the partial or complete loss of mobility. Moreover, diagnosing 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 displacement and damage to blood vessels, tightening 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 overload, performing monotonous physical exercises, negative external influences on the joints. Most injuries and illnesses that come from such exposure can be classified as occupational.
So wrist joints often suffer in the following categories:
- People who spend a lot of time on the computer. Right-handers are most often affected by the right hand, and left-handers. Due to the constant presence of the hand in the same position - in a computer mouse - swelling of the ligaments (tendons) and the nearby nerve occurs. Over time, the growing pain in the wrist can lead to numbness and even complete inability to move the hand. The disease was called - "Tunnel Syndrome";
- Pregnant women. They also have "tunnel syndrome", which is 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 increasing body weight, lead to carpal nerve damage. The pain can be expressed in varying degrees from slight discomfort in the joints to complete numbness of the hands. Usually, after the birth of a child, the functionality of the joints is restored;
- Pianists, tailors, laundries, cleaners. As a result of constant stress, falling mainly on the tendon muscles responsible for the work of the thumb, the pain in the hand is localized in this area. Diagnosis of the disease at an early stage makes its treatment relatively easy. The main thing is to contact an osteopath before the formation of scar tissue growths begins to change. This is usually preceded by severe pain, inflammation, and swelling in the joints;
- Crane operators, carpenters, builders working with jigsaw tools. The so-called Kienböck disease (avascular necrosis of the wrist bones) develops as a result of a severe injury or regular microtrauma of the wrist. The disease is caused by a violation of blood circulation in the wrist area, due to which severe pain develops in the wrist joint and later begin changes and destruction of bone tissue. Usually, the wrist that is a person's worker suffers.
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. Shoulder and elbow joints are affected just as often. Usually, their lesions are caused by injuries to the hands, spine, as well as diseases and age-related changes, leading to thinning of cartilage tissue in the joints. In each case, the treatment can be different - depending on the complexity and severity of the disease. Only a specialist with osteopathic experience can diagnose why there is pain in the hand, a crack in the joints and other disorders of hand mobility.
Osteopathic treatment of pain in the wrists
Pain in the joints of the hands is not always caused directly by damage to these joints themselves. On the contrary, the main causes of the disease are often quite distant from the hands. This 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 diet is corrected and the primary source of the disease is affected.
In the first stage of treatment, the pain in the arm joint always stops. This makes the patient's body more responsive to osteopathic influences and allows him to fully relax during the session. Since the sessions themselves are performed with long enough 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 wrist in a fixed position for this period. . Splints, corsets, various support bandages, etc. can be used for this.
Once the pain in the arm joint is eliminated, osteopathy begins to relieve muscle spasms and eliminate blocks that interfere with normal blood circulation to areas near the joints and throughout the body as a whole. Restoring the blood supply to the affected area improves tissue nutrition, as a result of which the pain does not return, and the joints themselves begin to gradually recover.
In the recovery phase, proper nutrition is very important, which will allow the body and damaged areas to get all the necessary set of trace elements, vitamins and nutrients. Thanks to the gradual renewal and restoration of tissues, the joints of the hands gain lost mobility, not only does the pain disappear, but also the feeling of numbness and discomfort.
To maintain the improving condition of the hands, the wrist should be loaded gradually in order to consolidate the positive tendencies and strengthen the hand muscles. Physiotherapeutic procedures and physiotherapy exercises should be performed under the strict 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 main causes of the disease are affected - the spine, the cervical region, the internal organs. Osteopathic techniques aim to improve the 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 by treating the pain in the hand, it simultaneously alleviates other deeper disorders that have become the main cause of this pain.
Pain in the wrist is not always a violation in the wrist area, so traditional treatment using symptomatic methods may not work. While an osteopath, who perceives the problem more broadly, is able to help in just a few sessions.