Diseases of the joints are one of the most common manifestations of disorders of the musculoskeletal system. They develop in the presence of inflammatory, degenerative-dystrophic, infectious processes in the body, as well as as a result of trauma and congenital anomalies.
Doctors distinguish dozens of different joint diseases that have fairly similar symptoms (pain, crunch, restriction of movement). This complicates the diagnosis and interferes with timely treatment. Therefore, in this article, experts will tell you about the manifestations and developmental features of the most common joint pathologies.
Features of the joints and causes of their diseases
A joint is any connection of two or more bones. There are 38 pairs of joints in the human body (a total of 76 joints). They provide mobility and flexibility to our body. Movement is a vital function and if the disease limits it, the quality and duration of life are reduced.
Each joint has articular surfaces - these are the surfaces of the bones that enter it, covered with a special hyaline cartilage. It is dense, elastic and is necessary to protect the bones from abrasion when moving. It also guarantees their perfect correspondence with each other. It is the wear and tear of the cartilage that becomes a common cause of pain, creaking, stiffness, and other signs of joint disease.
Joints are characterized by a complex structure. Joint surfaces, capsule, fissure, synovium, periarticular muscles and ligaments - all of these structures provide motor and support functions of the joint. Their damage can provoke the development of the disease.
Causes of diseases
Many people mistakenly believe that only the elderly suffer from joint disease, due to age-related changes and body weakness. But this is not the case!
Joint diseases can develop due to:
- injuries;
- excess weight;
- physical activity;
- incorrect posture;
- flat feet;
- hereditary predisposition;
- food with insufficient micronutrient content;
- diseases of the internal organs;
- metabolic disorders;
- transactions transferred;
- infections.
People of any age and even those with relatively good health (e. g. men and women of working age, adolescents, children, athletes, etc. ) can be affected by these factors.
Therefore, this group of diseases is becoming younger: in terms of frequency of occurrence and disability, it is second only to cardiovascular and endocrinological diseases, and their treatment is associated with high financial costs.
The mechanism of development and types of diseases
In the pathogenesis of joint damage, doctors distinguish 4 possible pathways:
First - the presence of inflammation in the body
This type of injury is characterized by a sudden onset, with a rapid increase in the symptoms of inflammation: swelling, pain, redness, fever. It occurs in infections, allergies, autoimmune processes in children and adults.
Juvenile arthritis
It is characterized by an autoimmune process (i. e. the body self-destructs), the cause of which is unknown. Infections transmitted, even in mild form (for example vaccinations), are often provocative.
The disease affects a large joint (knee, elbow) in children and adolescents, negatively affects their growth and development. Joint pains are accompanied by severe swelling, redness of the skin and fever.
Rheumatoid arthritis
Also caused by an autoimmune process with no clear cause. More often women are sick, the average age is 45-50 years. Up to 70% of sufferers become disabled.
It affects a small joint (or more), for example wrists, fingers. This affects patients' ability to work and even take care of themselves. They complain of severe pain, swelling, changes in the shape of the joints and morning stiffness in them.
Psoriatic arthritis
In almost half of patients diagnosed with psoriasis, the inflammation process develops in the small joints of the hands, feet and spine. The cause of arthritis, as well as the cause of the underlying disease, is unknown.
Psoriatic arthritis can affect the interdigital and large area (elbow, knee), one or more joints, symmetrically or not.
The main manifestation is the presence of pain that extends to the ligaments and tendons, swelling and blue skin of the fingers, limitation of mobility.
Gouty arthritis
It develops against the background of gout, due to the deposition of uric acid salts in the joints. Men suffer more often than women, age - 40-50 years and over 60 years, respectively.
A feature is the defeat of a joint, which begins suddenly, lasts several weeks, is accompanied by severe pain and swelling, with the formation of uric acid nodules (tofuse).
Spondyloarthritis with ankylosing spondylitis
A chronic injury in which the spine, paravertebral muscles and the sacroiliac joint of the pelvis are affected.
Men are more likely to suffer from the disease than women and it develops at the age of 20-30. Their main complaint is pain in the lower back, sacrum, hip joints; stiffness of movement after a rest period (especially in the morning, after sleep).
Even with symptom relief and relative well-being, without eliminating the root cause, the inflammation continues to develop and, over time, will cause a new exacerbation. Therefore, joint pathology often becomes chronic and leads to disability.
Second: the presence of a degenerative-dystrophic process
With this type of injury, the joint is destroyed by physical factors. Injuries and microtraumas, constant physical exertion above the norm, harmful effects of the environment (hypothermia, vibrations) - all these pathological factors cause the destruction of cartilage and narrowing of the joint space.
Deforming osteoarthritis
It develops due to damage and destruction of the joint cartilage. Its joint surfaces become rough and sensitive to friction. Over time, the destruction process goes to the bones, capsule, synovium, ligaments and muscles. Chronic inflammation and changes in the shape of the joint appear.
Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease. It reduces the quality of life of patients, causes disability and is difficult to treat. In youth, men are more likely to get sick, in old age - women.
Clinically, osteoarthritis is manifested by severe pain and limited mobility, which increase with physical effort. In the later stages, rest and calm also do not bring relief.
Osteochondrosis
It affects the spine and is caused by degenerative processes in the intervertebral discs. Under the influence of negative factors, the nutrition of the discs is disrupted, which leads to the loss of their shape (up to the formation of bumps and hernias), aging and destruction.
As a result, the spine loses its mobility, pain, numbness, stiffness of movement, muscle weakness, difficulty urinating and emptying the intestines, headache, dizziness appear. Symptoms depend on the part of the spine where osteochondrosis developed and can be very different.
Deforming spondyloarthrosis
This condition is also called "facet syndrome". In this case, the destruction process affects the structures of the intervertebral joints (capsule, ligaments, facets).
Very often it occurs in the most "overloaded" part of the spine: the lower back. It manifests as pain that radiates to the leg and intensifies with prolonged walking or standing in one spot.
Osteochondropathy
Caused by aseptic (non-infectious) bone necrosis, for example, due to impaired blood supply. As a result, the bones entering the joint are prone to frequent fractures. In advanced cases, patients can be seriously injured even while sleeping.
In the early stages, the disease does not manifest itself in any way. Many of the sufferers are athletes and people who lead a "healthy" lifestyle. The former are subject to excessive stress, the latter deliberately limit their diet and deprive the body of necessary substances.
To destroy the dense and elastic cartilage, the pathogenic factor must act on the joint for years, so degenerative-dystrophic changes are more common in old age. Or he has to act with superpowers, like in sports.
Many professional athletes become disabled in their youth.
Third: congenital joint diseases
This type of injury causes abnormalities in the structure and development of the joints as a result of infections and injuries to the mother, concomitant pathologies, late toxicosis and genetic diseases.
Frequent manifestations of congenital anomalies are birth trauma, such as dislocation of the hip or fracture of the collarbone.
Congenital dysplasia of the hip joints
It develops as a result of a violation of the formation of all joint structures in the prenatal and postnatal period. Predisposing factors are heredity and narrow bands. Girls are more susceptible to this pathology than boys: the incidence rate is 80% and 20% respectively.
With dysplasia, the shape of the joint changes and its ligaments are too elastic. This causes displacement of the femur and prevents mobility of the hip joint, which can lead to disability.
Congenital clubfoot
Deformity in which, due to the defeat of the ankle joint, the foot deviates inward relative to the lower leg.
Clubfoot often affects boys and is bilateral in half of cases. If the defect is not corrected in time, the child will not be able to walk normally and will remain disabled.
Marfan syndrome
Genetic pathology in which the patient has elongated bones in the arms and legs, as well as hypermobility (excessive mobility) of the joints.
In the early stages, many congenital joint pathologies can be eliminated completely or development can be slowed down by conservative methods. Late diagnosis and treatment can lead to impaired supportive and movement functions, up to and including disability.
Fourth: diseases of the muscles and ligaments of the joint
Pathologies of this group often develop due to increased physical exertion and hypothermia.
tendinitis
Inflammation and destruction of the tendon. It is accompanied by its tension and painful sensations, especially with time.
myositis
Development of inflammation in the periarticular muscles. It is accompanied by pain when the affected area is felt, which increases with movement.
bursitis
The inflammatory process is localized in the joint capsule. It often affects professional athletes (wrestlers, runners, weightlifters).
synovitis
Damage to the synovial membrane with accumulation of fluid in the joint cavity. It is accompanied by pain, swelling, stiffness of movements.
The relationship between disease and joint type
There is a certain pattern in which the joint is affected by which pathology. Some of them even have their own specific names.
For instance,knee jointit can be affected at any age, regardless of the patient's gender and occupation. But the defeat of the meniscus and cruciate ligaments is more common in athletes. Gonarthrosis - in the elderly. Arthritis of infectious origin - in children.
pain inshoulder jointit can be caused by shoulder-scapular periarthritis, cervical osteochondrosis, arthrosis.
Forelbow jointtypical damage to the periarticular tissues - epicondylitis or "tennis elbow", "golfer's elbow".
The hip joint is most commonly affected in older people. Due to osteoporosis and coxarthrosis, they are at risk of fracture of the femoral neck.
pain insmall jointshands and feet is observed in rheumatoid, psoriatic, gouty arthritis.
But despite the specific manifestations, the diagnosis of joint pathology often causes difficulties, which is fraught with a late start of treatment and the risk of complications.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
Among the complaints that bother patients with joint pathology, there are:
- ache;
- Swelling and swelling
- Change of shape;
- stiffness of movement;
- Inability to perform normal range of motion.
Doctors call them joint syndrome. Doctors call them joint syndrome. The appearance of redness of the skin, rashes and dense nodules is also possible. Of the general symptoms, patients often complain of an increase in temperature in the area of the lesion or throughout the body, increased fatigue.
Reading the previous section, you may have noticed that all of these symptoms are found in almost all joint pathologies. Therefore, it is impossible to make a clear diagnosis based only on your complaints - you need an examination and consultation with a doctor.
During the examination of the patient, the doctor not only pays attention to his complaints. To make an accurate diagnosis, it is important to know the time of their appearance, which joint is affected, one or more of them, whether this lesion is symmetrical and other factors.
Let's take a closer look at each symptom:
Ache:
It occurs in almost all pathologies. Doctors distinguish several types of them:
- inflammatory- increases towards the morning, after a rest period. Typical for rheumatoid, juvenile, gouty arthritis, spondyloarthritis.
- Mechanic- appears during physical exertion or a change in body position, often in the late afternoon, disappears after rest. Typical for arthrosis, arthrosis, osteochondrosis, pathology of the periarticular tissues.
- "Begin"- occurs in the first 15-20 minutes of physical activity after a rest period. Typical for osteoarthritis.
- "Block"- caused by pinching in the joint space of a cartilage fragment, as a result of which the joint "wedges". It can be accompanied by crunches. It occurs in osteoarthritis.
- Constant- persists, regardless of load and time of day, may increase at night. Typical for osteochondropathy, osteomyelitis, tumors and tuberculosis of the bones.
Number of joints affected:
- One (monoarthritis): with juvenile, gouty, psoriatic arthritis.
- Two-four (oligoarthritis): with rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis.
- More than four (polyarthritis): with rheumatoid, gouty arthritis.
Symmetry of the lesion:
- Symmetrical: for rheumatoid arthritis.
- Asymmetrical: for spondyloarthritis, gout, arthrosis.
- "Migratory": with gout.
Morning stiffness in the joints:
It is perceived by the patient as the impossibility and tension of movement. It happens in the morning and is associated with the accumulation of fluid in the joint cavity during the night. Typical for rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis.
Also, the doctor pays attention to general complaints:
- Increased body temperature;
- Redness of the skin, presence of a rash;
- The defeat of the internal organs.
To make an accurate diagnosis, laboratory (blood, joint fluid analysis) and instrumental (X-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound) studies are required.
Conclusion
Joint pain and dysfunction can be caused for a variety of reasons. There are pathologies that cannot be cured, but many of them, with proper and timely treatment, allow a person to live a full life. Therefore, if you have at least one of the listed symptoms, contact your doctor: do not diagnose yourself, do not prescribe treatment and, even more so, do not tolerate pain.
We use a holistic approach to the treatment of joint pain, thanks to which many of our patients have rediscovered the joy of movement.