Joint pain is not only a problem for the older generation.Young people often encounter this too.In some situations, painkillers help relieve unpleasant symptoms, in others, drug treatment is required, and in the most difficult cases, the help of a surgeon is necessary.
Causes of joint pain
The causes of joint pain can be either mechanical or infectious.After an injury, no one is surprised by pain when moving.But when pain occurs for no obvious reason, the patient does not understand how to act to get rid of the problem.
However, a bacterial infection can cause pain.When pathogenic microorganisms penetrate the synovial fluid, they infect nearby soft tissues.An infection can get into a joint in several ways:
- As a result of prosthetics, due to poor quality sterilization of materials.
- Due to deep tissue damage due to skin infections;
- After any surgical intervention performed in violation of the rules of antiseptic treatment.
In addition to bacteria, the joint is also threatened by fungus.These microorganisms also enter the synovial fluid as a result of infection received during surgical interventions.
Few people associate stomach disease or bladder damage with pain in the knee or elbow joint.However, there is a connection.When the gastrointestinal tract is affected by a bacterial infection, toxins and colonies of microorganisms enter the bloodstream and move through the body with the bloodstream.Some of them settle in the joint cavity.Joint risks include:
- diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
- damage to the urinary system;
- sexually transmitted diseases;
- rubella;
- angina;
- infectious mononucleosis;
- pneumonia.
This suggests that improper treatment of infectious diseases can lead to more serious consequences than one might imagine.For example, late diagnosed tonsillitis, or the patient’s refusal of prescribed antibiotics can lead to disability.This is due to the fact that streptococcus, which causes tonsillitis, is recognized by the immune system in the same way as cells from the heart valves and intra-articular tissue.If antibiotic therapy is not used as the primary treatment, the immune system itself will destroy the joint tissue while fighting the infection.
Viral infections also affect joints.These are diseases such as:
- rubella;
- hepatitis C;
- hepatitis B;
- herpes.
Humanity has not yet come up with a proven effective medicine that would fight viruses.The only exception is the drug Acyclovir, which is effective against the herpes virus.Other diseases of viral etiology can only be defeated by the human immune system.To protect yourself from infections that can destroy joint tissue, you can arm your immune system with vaccination.Vaccinations against rubella and hepatitis are included in the mandatory calendar.
How to relieve pain
Orthopedists use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as a symptomatic treatment for joint pain.
If the pain is unbearable, you will need to contact a specialist who will install a blockade.This is a procedure that allows you to inject anesthesia into the joint itself and into the radicular zone of the nerve endings.But this solution to the problem is temporary.After 10-16 hours, the patient’s condition will return to its original position.
What does crunching in joints mean?
Crunching in the joints can be caused by several reasons.On the one hand, the crunch indicates that the intra-articular substrate is depleted as a result of a violation of the water-salt balance.On the other hand, a single crunch, which can be heard when bending or straightening a joint to its maximum position, is the sound made by gas bubbles bursting inside the joint fluid.
If there is a constant crunching sound when moving, you need to reduce the load on the moving part.It is better to eliminate the cause through the office of an orthopedic traumatologist.Self-administration of advertised medications not only will not help, but can also cause harm.An x-ray will show the condition of the bones and interarticular cartilage.If it turns out that it is depleted, individual recommendations will be given.If you treat the pain with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs when you have worn out cartilage, you will only be able to reduce the sensitivity in the joint while continuing to use it.Over time, thin cartilage causes inflammation of the intra-articular tissue, which will lead to arthrosis.
Arthritis or arthrosis
For those who do not have a medical education or have not personally encountered problems with bones and joints, the two concepts: arthritis and arthrosis seem exactly the same.The similarity of the names is explained by the fact that all diseases associated with joints have the root “art”.The prefix “it” indicates an inflammatory process.This can be seen in the example of other terms: rhinitis - inflammation of the sinuses, bronchitis - inflammation of the bronchi;otitis – inflammation of the ear.However, the term does not indicate the causes of inflammation, which means it cannot be a diagnosis.Bronchitis, for example, can be both viral and bacterial.This means that treatment tactics in both cases are completely different.Arthritis is inflammation in a joint, without a description of the cause.
Arthrosis is a disease that affects the interarticular cartilage.Prolonged unexamined arthritis sooner or later leads to arthrosis.Inflammatory processes in the joint disrupt metabolism, due to which the tissues do not receive proper nutrition and become thinner.This is where the destruction of cartilage tissue occurs.
Prevention of joint disease
Proper nutrition ensures health to all body systems.A sufficient amount of protein, calcium, iron and vitamins allows you to provide cartilage tissue, ligaments, synovial fluid and bones with everything they need.
In addition, an active lifestyle will keep your muscles toned, thanks to which they provide additional support to the entire skeleton in general, and joints in particular.And in order to protect yourself from dangerous viral infections that affect the joints, you need to be vaccinated in a timely manner.