The human body has more than 300 joints: from the largest - the hips and shoulders, to the smallest - the joints of the fingers and toes. And each of them is important and necessary for health and a fulfilled life. Minor and unreasonable, at first glance, pain in the joints of the legs and arms can indicate serious disorders in the body, problems with circulation and metabolic systems. Therefore, contacting osteopathy specialists at the first manifestations of joint pain will be the right and timely decision. After all, osteopathy with its idea of the body as a complex interconnected system of skeletons, joints, muscles and internal organs gives the most logical declaration of joint disease and shows high efficiency in their treatment.
Numbness and pain in the arm. 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, pinched nerves of the hands. In heart disease, numbness of the left hand is often noted, which begins with a slight decrease in the sensitivity of the little finger and ring finger 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 finger, indicates disorders of the cervical spine, possible nerve entrapment, movement 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 organism is maximally exhausted.
At the age of 45 and older, numbness, reaching complete inability to move the hand, even after small loads on the joints (sewing, knitting, working with the keyboard) may indicate atherosclerosis of the blood vessels of the hand, as well as damage to the elbow and shoulder joints.
Many diseases related to aging and previous injuries manifest themselves in the form of pain in the wrists. One-time sprains, bruises, and cracks in the navicular and lunacy bones of the hand that are left unattended can be cured. The consequences of such a careless approach threaten 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 osteopaths. The latter can also help with the consequences of such injuries, eliminating possible bone displacements and damage to blood vessels, pinching nerve endings that cause pain.
Occupational diseases of the wrists
Pain in the wrists can be caused by their regular overexertion, performing monotonous physical exercises, adverse external influences on the joints. Most injuries and illnesses caused by such exposure can be classified as occupational.
Thus, the wrists often suffer in the following categories:
- People who spend a lot of time at the computer. The right hand is more often affected in the right hand, and the left in the left. Due to the constant presence of the hand in the same position - on a computer mouse - there is swelling of the ligaments (tendons) and the nearby nerve. Over time, increasing joint pain can lead to numbness and even complete inability to move the arm. The disease is called - "Tunnel Syndrome";
- Pregnant women. They also manifest the "tunnel syndrome", which is most pronounced after 3-4 months of pregnancy. Usually, pain in the wrists is preceded by swelling, which is characteristic of late pregnancy. They, combined with weight gain, lead to carpal nerve injury. The pain can be expressed in various degrees, from mild discomfort in the joint 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, which falls mainly on the tendon muscles responsible for the work of the thumb, pain in the hand is localized in this area. Diagnosis of the disease at an early stage facilitates its resolution. 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 crane tools. The so-called Kienböck disease (avascular necrosis of the wrist bones) occurs as a result of severe injury or regular microtrauma of the wrist. The disease is caused by a violation of blood circulation in the area of the wrist, which causes severe pain in the wrist, and later changes and destruction of bone tissue begin. The wrists of a person who is a worker are usually injured.
Other causes of wrist pain
Pain in the wrists can be localized not only in the arm area. The shoulder and elbow joints are equally often affected. Usually, their lesions are caused by injuries to the hands, spine, as well as diseases and age-related changes that lead to thinning of the cartilage tissue in the joints. In each case, the treatment may be different - depending on the complexity and severity of the disease. Only an experienced osteopath can diagnose why there is pain in the hand, squeaking in the wrist and other disorders of hand mobility.
Osteopathic treatment of pain in the wrists
Pain in the wrists is not always caused directly by damage to the joints themselves. On the contrary, the root causes of the disease are often quite far from the hands. Therefore, treatment can be effective only if it is aimed at eliminating the underlying causes. This is the approach practiced by osteopaths. At the same time, complex methods show high efficiency in the case of pain in the hands, when manual techniques are combined with moderate physical activity, and at the same time the patient's diet is corrected and the primary source of the disease is affected.
In the first phase of treatment, the pain in the wrist always stops. This makes the patient's body more sensitive to osteopathic influences and allows him to relax completely during the session. Since the sessions themselves are conducted with fairly long breaks (1-2 weeks) that are needed for the body to recover and adapt to the changes made by the osteopath in its functioning, it is recommended to fix the joint in a fixed position for this period. . Splints, corsets, various support bandages, etc. can be used for that.
Once the pain in the wrist is eliminated, the osteopath begins to relieve muscle cramps and eliminate blocks that interfere with normal blood circulation in areas near the wrists and throughout the body. Restoring the blood supply in the affected area improves tissue nutrition, which is why 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 renewal of the tissues, the joints of the hands gain lost mobility, not only the pain disappears, but also the feeling of numbness and discomfort.
In order to maintain a better condition of the hands, the joint must be gradually loaded in order to strengthen the positive tendencies and strengthen the muscles of the hand. Physiotherapy procedures and physiotherapy exercises should be performed under the strict supervision of a specialist and be standardized. If the pain returns to the wrists, it is necessary to reduce the load.
In parallel with the treatment of the hands, the basic causes of the disease are also covered - the spine, the neck region, the internal organs. Osteopathic techniques are aimed at improving 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 pain in the hand, it also alleviates other deeper disorders that have become the main cause of this pain.
Pain in the wrist is not always an injury in the wrist area, so traditional treatment with symptomatic methods may not work. While an osteopath, who sees the problem more broadly, can help in just a few sessions.