Arthritis of the fingers

Inflammation of the small joints most often develops not on its own but against the background of some general disease. Inflammation of the fingers is a characteristic symptom of rheumatoid arthritis, but can also be a manifestation of some other disease. It is very important to seek medical help in a timely manner, identify the cause of the illness, and begin treatment to avoid serious complications and disability. In this article, you will find all the information you need to know about this disease.

General information about the disease

Finger joint inflammation is an inflammation of the metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints of the fingers. The disease is quite common at any age. According to statistics, women get better with them after 40 years. This is explained by the fact that women have a higher load on their hands and fingers than men. Arthritis code of fingers of undetermined origin according to ICD-10 M13.

Depending on the cause, the disease can only occur in the small joints of the fingers and can be combined with damage to the large joints. The development of the disease can be acute, subacute, and chronic, but the course will in most cases be prolonged or chronic. An exception is post-traumatic arthritis of the fingers: with proper treatment, it ends in complete recovery. But if the treatment is not prescribed in time, it also takes a chronic course.

Causes of the inflammatory process in the finger joints

The causes of the disease can be different. The small joints of the fingers are most commonly affected by rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease (allergic to the patient's own tissues) based on hereditary predisposition. The starting point for the onset of the disease is usually some kind of infection. After a while, genetically predisposed individuals develop arthritis of the fingers. Other, larger joints may be affected in the future.

Another common cause of small joints in the hand is psoriasis. It is also an autoimmune inherited disease in which mainly the (distal) joints of the fingertips are affected, with concomitant characteristic lesions of the nails. This usually occurs in the background of existing rashes of psoriasis, but sometimes symptoms of arthritis in the joints of the fingers first appear.

Quite often, arthritis of the finger joints develops with gout. The disease has a metabolic (metabolic) origin - the exchange of uric acid salts is disturbed, deposited in the joint and periarticular tissues, causing an inflammatory process.

Post-traumatic arthritis of the finger joints is sometimes professional in nature. Jewelers, seamstresses, hairdressers, etc. It develops with permanent minor injuries to his hands. The inflammatory process is supported by further trauma and becomes chronic. Acute (sports, household) injuries can lead to acute arthritis, which then disappears completely.

Other types of arthritis rarely damage small joints. The provocative factors that contribute to arthritis of the small joints of the hand are hormonal changes (adolescence, pregnancy, menopause), stress, frequent colds and allergic diseases, bad habits and professional activities.

Symptoms of pharyngitis

Symptoms may vary depending on the nature of the course of the inflammatory process (acute, subacute, chronic) and the clinical form of the underlying disease.

The first signs

The development of the disease is slow in most cases. There are aching pains in the hands and the morning movements are stiff. At first, such a symptom lasts on average up to half an hour and then goes away. The pains are painful, constant, and their intensity increases slowly.

Less commonly, the action is acute. The pain appears in one or more tiny finger joints, accompanied by redness and swelling of the surrounding tissue. Joint function is impaired: difficult to bend and bend, sometimes impossible due to pain.

With the acute development of the disease, the general condition of the patient often suffers: fever, malaise and headache appear. If the process develops subacutaneously or chronically, there may be no general manifestations, and the changes in the joints involved are also not very pronounced.

When symptoms of arthritis appear, the most important thing is to see a doctor. The sooner this happens, the more likely it is to stop the inflammatory process at the very beginning.

Obvious symptoms

Obvious signs of chronic manual arthritis include the appearance of edema and redness of the tissues surrounding the affected areas of the hands, as well as the involvement of other joints in the pathological process in one way or another. The appearance of new foci of inflammation is accompanied by a slight rise in body temperature, increased pain, and dysfunction of the joints affected. But more often, rheumatoid exacerbations occur without general manifestations.

After a while, the inflammatory process may decrease somewhat in intensity, local inflammation and general symptoms decrease. After that, the process becomes chronic. The morning stiffness of the movements appears, with patients noticing the feeling of tight gloves on their hands that do not allow movement. After the morning uprising and the onset of physical activity, this feeling diminishes or even disappears for a while. The appearance of crepitus (friction and clicks) in the affected joint joints is also characteristic.

If the patient does not receive arthritis treatment, exacerbations and remissions alternate with constant pain and rapid onset of joint deformities (rheumatoid arthritis) or fusing and shortening of the fingertips (in psoriatic arthritis). Inflammation of the arthritis of the thumb most often develops with gout, severe pain, swelling, redness, and then disappears without a trace, but with frequent relapses, deformity and loss of joint function also develop.

Dangerous symptoms

Emergency medical attention is required for the following symptoms of pharyngitis:

• high body temperature (38 - 39 °) for 5 days or more;
• a sudden rise in temperature, increased inflammation and pain in the joint with an already existing inflammatory process - may indicate the formation of a suppository;
• participation in the pathological process of new small or large joints;
• the appearance of blackened tissue on the fingertips (necrosis) in arthritis of psoriasis.

If such symptoms occur, consult a doctor immediately.

What is the risk of disease

The main danger of any type of chronic arthritis lies in the progression of the inflammatory process, which eventually becomes degenerative-dystrophy, with limb deformity and disability. The longer the arthritis lasts, the greater the risk of complications.

Stages of the disease

Arthritis of the fingers is at 4 stages of development, depending on the degree of joint damage observed during the instrumental examination:

1. Initial phase.In the presence of severe or minor clinical signs of inflammation, you may see signs of inflammation on an X-ray in the form of dilation of the joint space. You can see the presence of increased amounts of joint fluid on an ultrasound. Symptoms may be pronounced or almost absent during the chronic course of the disease.
2. Progressive inflammation.Signs of inflammation are clearly visible on X-ray and ultrasound. The articular cartilage is destroyed and loose connective tissue is formed in its place - pannus. The process takes on a wavy (exacerbation-remission) or continuously progressive process. Pain and stiffness increase.
3. Connective tissue ankylosis.The connective tissue of the pannus becomes rough, growing, and connects the joint-forming bone surfaces, resulting in limited movement in the joint. The fingers were deformed.
4. Bone ankylosis.Instead of connective tissue, bone tissue grows in the joint, leading to complete immobility of the joint and loss of function.

Possible complications

Without treatment, arthritis of the hands and fingers progresses. The following complications are also possible:

• the development of a purulent inflammatory process with a transition to the tissues surrounding the joint, the formation of abscesses, phlegmon and sepsis;
• fingertip necrosis, shortening and soft tissue inflammation;
• subluxation and displacement of small joints;
• various joint deformities;
• complete loss of function of the fingers and hand.

What to start with an exacerbation

As the arthritis worsens, the joints become sharply painful, the skin above them becomes red, swollen, and the pain makes it impossible for the fingers to move. To reduce suffering:

• puts your hand in a slightly raised position - this reduces swelling;
• take any medicine from the group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) - Diclofenac, Nimesulide, Indomethacin, Ibuprofen; reduces pain and inflammation;
• apply any external agent of the NSAID group - gel or ointment - to the skin over the diseased joint; Diclofenac emulsifier helps a lot;
• see a doctor or call at home.

In case of exacerbation, it is impossible to delay the visit to the doctor, there is an urgent need to suppress the progression of the disease. This is impossible to do alone.

How does arthritis of the fingers of the hand progress in different clinical forms of the disease

The symptoms and the nature of the course of arthritis depend on the disease that led to its development. Overcoming small joints in the hand is most common in rheumatoid, psoriasis, and gouty arthritis. But it can also occur in other clinical forms of arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis

In most cases, arthritis begins slowly, unnoticed. There is aching pain in the fingers. The nature of the pain is constant, painful, exhausting. After sleeping in the morning, rigid movements appear, which can take up to 30 minutes.

After a while, the patient notices that the fingers have started to swell in the joints. It most commonly affects the metacarpophalangeal and covering interphalangeal joints of the 2nd and 3rd fingers. The defeat on both arms is symmetrical. Pain of varying intensity is constant. Over time, the characteristic deformation of fusiform fingers appears.

Small, painless subcutaneous rheumatoid nodules appear on the skin of the fingers and elbows. The course of the disease is slow, progressive, with constant debilitating pain, deformity, and loss of joint function.

Psoriatic arthritis

In this disease, arthritis develops in the joints of the distal (terminal) interphalangeal fingers in the background of pre-existing skin manifestations of psoriasis. But sometimes joint symptoms occur before or at the same time as skin symptoms. In most cases, the disease begins acutely or subcutaneously with the appearance of red fingers, swelling, and pain in the joints of the little finger. The lesion is usually asymmetrical, while the fingers resemble sausage.

The disease is associated with severe exacerbations and remissions. Nail plates are almost always involved in the pathological process. Over time, the fingertips become deformed, thickened, the nails become thinner and deformed, and a thimble symptom appears - dotted depressions in the nail plates.

Prolonged course of the disease results in dislocations and subluxations of the small distal joints, as well as lysis (melting) (X-ray) of the bones of the fingertips and shortening of the fingers.

Gouty arthritis

The gout attack begins acutely, with severe pain, swelling and redness in the affected joints. Small joints are often affected. Usually, the inflammation begins with the metacarpophalangeal joint of the 1st finger and can then spread to the metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints of the other fingers.

The pain is very severe, the seizure can last from several hours to several weeks and then everything goes away. But with frequent attacks involving damage to the same joints, their function is impaired.

Post-traumatic arthritis

This type of arthritis of the fingers can develop in the background of an acute domestic, industrial, or sports injury, continue acutely with subsequent complete healing, or (in the absence of necessary help) can be complicated by the addition of a purulent infection. Sometimes such an inflammatory process can become chronic, followed by deformation of the affected joints.

Initially, the chronic course of post-traumatic arthritis of the fingers of the hand causes a continuously minor, imperceptible injury to the fingers. This is most common in certain professions that do little work. Arthritis develops slowly, with the most traumatized joints involved during work. If you do not change jobs, permanent deformation will develop with the dysfunction of the fingers.

Other types of arthritis

In this type of arthritis, reactive, infectious, idiopathic lesions of the small joints of the fingers are practically non-existent.

Diagnostics

The diagnosis is made on the basis of the characteristic symptoms of the disease and the test data confirm:

• laboratory tests - reveal the presence of the inflammatory process, the presence or absence of infection, antibodies against infectious agents, rheumatoid factor;
• radiography - reveals bone changes in the joints;
• Ultrasound - the presence of an increased amount of exudate in the joint cavity is a sign of an active inflammatory process;
• MRI - changes in soft joint and periarticular tissues.

Without further testing methods, it is impossible to establish a correct diagnosis (and therefore prescribe appropriate treatment). Therefore, if you experience pain in the small joints of your fingers, you should consult your doctor as soon as possible.

Finger arthritis treatment

Once the final diagnosis has been made, treatment of arthritis of the fingers is prescribed by a rheumatologist (sometimes in conjunction with other professionals - surgeon, dermatovenerologist). It should be comprehensive to suppress the progression of the pathological process and prevent violation of joint function. The complex treatment includes:

• drug therapy;
• physiotherapy procedures;
• therapeutic gymnastics and massage;
• reflexology courses;
• folk remedies.

Drug therapy

The first task of medication is to alleviate the patient's condition. For this, drugs belonging to the NSAID group are prescribed, which relieve pain, inflammation and swelling of the tissues. Depending on the degree of activity of the inflammatory process, these drugs are prescribed in the form of injections (injections) or tablets for oral administration. In addition, medicines in this group are prescribed externally in the form of gels, ointments and creams.

The most effective NSAID is Diclofenac, but it irritates the wall of the gastrointestinal tract and should not be taken for a long time. Diclofenac is replaced by more advanced drugs from the NSAID group - Nimesulide, Celecoxib, etc. Such agents are used externally, Diclofenac ointment. The use of NSAIDs can be a significant relief for the patient.

Sometimes the inflammatory process is so pronounced that it is impossible to remove it with drugs belonging to the NSAID group. In this case, glucocorticoid hormones are used - prednisolone, dexamethasone, etc. In the form of injections, internally in the form of tablets or externally in the form of an ointment. Intra-articular injection of hormones into small joints is rarely used.

The main drugs used to suppress autoimmune processes are methotrexate, sulfasalazine, leflunomide and biological agents (Rituximab). These medications are selected by a rheumatologist and prescribed for long courses according to a special system.

Chondroprotectors are prescribed to restore the function of the joints - medicines that restore the cartilage tissue in the joints. They are also prescribed for long courses.

Tools that improve tissue blood circulation and metabolism - pentoxifylline and others help restore tissue trophism.

Vitamins and minerals are prescribed as strengthening agents to improve metabolism and help restore the body’s overall balance.

Physiotherapy procedures

The complex treatment of pharyngitis necessarily involves physiotherapy procedures. These, like drugs, are selected individually, depending on the clinical form and activity of the pathological process. This can be electrophoresis with hydrocortisone, UHF, laser or magnetotherapy, etc.

Massage and exercise

Massage and physiotherapy courses are prescribed at the time of relief of the inflammatory process. They help improve tissue blood circulation and metabolism, restore the function of small joints. At home, you can do the following physical exercises to improve your mobility:

• roll a small flexible ball on the table surface with finger surfaces for one minute, actively involving the affected finger joints in the process;
• touch the pad of the 1st finger of the opposite hand with the tip of the fingers of one hand; start with your little finger and finish the index; repeat the exercise 10 times;
• place your hand so that your fingertips are slightly bent and touch the surface of the table; bend all your fingers one after the other and hit the table with it (like the keys on a piano);
• repeat three times.

Such exercises should be performed on a daily basis, gradually increasing the number of approaches.

Folk remedies

How to treat arthritis of the fingers with folk remedies, the doctor should tell you. He also selects the most appropriate technique. You can use herbal decoctions and infusions for oral administration, as well as external agents:

• compacting kefir mixed with crushed chalk in a ratio of 50 g chalk / 75 to 100 ml kefir; you should get a thick mixture that should be applied once a day at night; for this it should be applied on a napkin made of cotton material, placed in a sore spot, on top - polyethylene and insulation; so leave overnight; perfectly relieves swelling and pain;
• infusion of celery roots; Place 20 g of crushed raw material (dry or fresh) in a thermos overnight, pour 200 ml of boiling water; the next day drink 3-4 servings before meals; the course of treatment is 2 weeks; relieves pain and swelling well.

Surgery

This type of treatment for arthritis of small joints is rarely used. Arthritis not sometimes appropriate for conservative treatment, arthritis is sometimes performed with synovectomy - removing a portion of the synovial membrane that results in large amounts of exudate.

In some cases, the joint is replaced with an artificial one, but this is a fairly rare operation.

The current strategy for treating rheumatoid arthritis in this article.

A clinical approach to finger arthritis

At our clinic, the patient is carefully examined using the latest laboratory and instrumental methods, including MRI, and only then is a treatment prescribed that is individually selected for each patient.

The characteristic of the treatment of our clinic is that the complex therapy includes the following:

• modern western methods of treatment to eliminate the main manifestations of inflammation of the finger;
• traditional oriental methods of treating diseases, which make it possible to restore the balance of the body, to establish the connection of all organs and systems; this leads to the cessation of inflammation, swelling and pain in the joints and the suppression of the progression of the disease.

The combination of Western and Eastern techniques allows our patients to be relieved of pain quickly and painlessly, and then effectively restore the function of damaged joints. The specialists of the clinic have extensive experience in the treatment of inflammation of the fingers. You can find out more about the treatment methods at our clinic on our website.

General clinical guidelines

Recommended for patients with inflammation of the fingers:

• to lead a healthy lifestyle, temper; to heal in time, to eliminate all foci of infection, which can become a trigger in the development of exacerbation of arthritis;
• get rid of bad habits; eat right, regulate sleep and wakefulness;
• if arthritis worsens, do not strain your fingers or do chores, including washing dishes;
• perform physical exercises for the hands during home remission; classes should be held daily;
• stop self-medication completely and follow your doctor’s recommendations in every way.

Prevention of pharyngitis

Prevention of arthritis is especially important for those who have a genetic predisposition to this disease (close relatives with this pathology). To maintain good health, they should follow the following recommendations:

• you must not strain your hands with heavy physical or long-term laborious work, including at home;
• hypothermia should be avoided, hands should be avoided;
• to lead a healthy lifestyle, eat correctly, temper;
• to do feasible sports, to train every day;
• avoid prolonged stress.

Diet

Special nutrition is only needed for gouty arthritis of the fingers. The diet of such patients should not include strong broths, offal, young animal meat, alcohol, sorrel, salad, strong tea, coffee, chocolate.

In other cases, it is enough to follow the principles of healthy eating: eat lean meat and dairy products, fish (useful for fatty sea fish), cereals, cereals, vegetables, fruits. Avoid high calorie foods, sweets, muffins, hot spices, fried, smoked foods. Meals should be regular.

Inflammation of the finger often develops unnoticed. It is very important to pay attention to the painful fingers in time and to see a doctor in time. But even if you missed the time and there are clear signs of arthritis, don’t despair: it can help at any stage. A complete cure for a chronic disease is problematic, but it is entirely possible to stop its progression, relieve pain, and improve your quality of life.