Big toe pain can cause a lot of inconvenience - from simple discomfort to decreased mobility. The lower limbs bear a large load. When walking, running, dancing and any other movement, they must support the weight of the entire body.
Sometimes heavy loads lead to malfunctions of the joints, which they indicate through pain and inflammation.
The joints are located in each phalanx. However, they are not the only ones that can cause discomfort. The foot contains tendons, blood vessels, and bones.
Injury, uncomfortable shoes, internal diseases are the causes of pain in the fingers.
Anything can hurt. If the soft pad on your finger hurts, it may be due to calluses or dry skin on which cracks have formed. You can get rid of this with a pedicure and nourishing creams.
Bones and joints are characterized by aching pain. Most often, troubles arise due to injuries. In this case, only a specialist can prescribe treatment.
Inflammation can be caused by nails that have grown into the skin. To avoid this, you don't need to cut your nails very short. However, these are not all the causes of pain.
The human body has an integral structure. All systems and organs are closely interconnected. In some cases, discomfort in the finger may be caused by diseases of the internal organs. The pain can be sharp or dull. If there are no visible signs of disturbances, this indicates a pathology in the body.
The big toe can hurt due to internal and external factors. The following ailments include external ones.
Injuries. If you hit or bruise your toe, the pain may remain with you for some time. Most often, the nature of the pain is aching, the skin turns red, and a bruise may occur. Special ointments and gels will help speed up healing after injury.
Incorrectly selected shoes. If shoes are too narrow or small in size, after prolonged wear they begin to put a lot of pressure on the toe and bunions. This leads to cutting and sometimes sharp pain. Also, girls who cannot part with high stilettos may experience unpleasant sensations. Try to pay attention to comfort before purchasing.
Ingrown nail. Sometimes the nail plate can grow into the skin, causing pus to form. At the same time, the big toe hurts a lot.
Corn. Your toe may hurt due to a callus that has formed on it. Remember that under no circumstances should you pierce it - this can cause an infection and cause an inflammatory process. Contact your surgeon for help.
Physical exercise. Very often, athletes and dancers who train for days before competitions experience pain in their toes. The joints cannot withstand the load, and acute pain appears, especially when bending.
Gout. This disease often occurs in older people. It is associated with the accumulation of uric acid in the joints.
Gout causes pain in the limbs that does not subside even during rest periods.
All of these reasons negatively affect the patient’s health. Treatment should begin immediately after the first symptoms appear. Don't put off going to the doctor. Some pathological changes can only be eliminated through the combined use of medications and therapeutic procedures.
Treatment of diseases of the big toe Diseases of the joints need to be treated long-term and comprehensively. Do not believe the promises on the packaging that after one use you will forget about your problems. If you want to get back on your feet as quickly as possible, take medications prescribed by your doctor and combine them with traditional methods. If the injury is not serious, you can get by with compresses and heating.
In case of complications, electrophoresis is prescribed.
Treatment of inflammatory processes is carried out by several groups of drugs:
With the combined use of these groups of drugs, pain is eliminated, inflammation is relieved and the affected joint is renewed. Along with taking medications, you need to apply a tight bandage to the sore spot. It will fix the joint in the correct position. For severe pain, painkillers are prescribed. These include Narposin, Cortisone, Voltaren .
Despite the large number of medications in pharmacies, many people try to treat them at home.
For joint diseases, baths with oils are beneficial. For these purposes, you can use calendula, St. John's wort or eucalyptus. Carry out the procedure no longer than 30 minutes.
Herbal infusions of St. John's wort or calendula are excellent for inflammation. You need to take them a glass 2-3 times a day.
If your big toe hurts, you can apply a compress of grated onion to it.
Place it on the joint and leave for 20-30 minutes. For fixation, you can wrap it with a bandage.
You can restore mobility with the help of a cabbage leaf. Pour boiling water over the leaf and apply it warm to your leg. Wrap a scarf over the top or put on a warm sock.
During the treatment period, try to drink less water to avoid swelling. Adjust your diet. It is very important to take enough vitamin D.
If you have a predisposition to joint diseases, you should periodically see a doctor.
Give up bad habits, review your diet, and choose only comfortable shoes without high heels. At the first symptoms of joint inflammation, begin treatment so as not to worsen the condition.
Hands are considered the most functional and mobile part of the body. If they were not there, a person would not only not be able to work, but also would not have the opportunity to perform ordinary household chores.
For this reason, pain in the upper limbs causes serious discomfort and hindrance. After all, even its slight manifestation can greatly affect a person’s activities and limit his activity.
Stiffness in the fingers is accompanied by pain. This problem is quite common among older patients. The appearance of a similar condition in women, for example, is explained by hormonal changes after the onset of menopause.
However, discomfort when bending fingers worries not only people in old age. Unfortunately, this condition can manifest itself even in young patients.
The main causes of pain may be joint injuries or diseases. And if no questions arise with the first sources, the latter reasons require close attention.
Pain and discomfort in the joints of the fingers can be caused by the following diseases:
All the diseases described above develop gradually, but they must be treated at an early stage. Clinical studies in this area make it possible to identify several factors causing the development of pathology. These are the fundamental reasons:
The occurrence of awkwardness when bending the fingers cannot simply be ignored. The problem should not be underestimated; such an attitude can provoke serious complications, because it is not known why the joints of the hands hurt.
Often, the patient notes a loss of activity when trying to bend the thumb after sleep.
In the future, this seemingly insignificant problem, like stiffness when bending the thumb, can lead a person to disability.
The need to visit a doctor should arise at the moment when the patient first feels pain when trying to bend a finger. The reasons for the discomfort that caused a visit to the doctor can be very different:
Patients who have pain in diarthrosis of the hands, and discomfort in them after sleep, need urgent treatment. But first the doctor must make the correct diagnosis. This requires:
Note! Joints hurt for various reasons, and treatment in each case should be individual. Only a doctor can correctly diagnose the disease and prescribe adequate treatment.
The most common factor affecting joints is rheumatoid arthritis. The disease is characterized by symmetrical damage to the joints. Rheumatoid arthritis of the fingers especially affects the phalanges of the thumb.
The pain is accompanied by swelling and redness. In addition to these signs, rheumatoid nodules are typical for the disease, which are easy to detect by palpation.
Polyosteoarthrosis (osteoarthritis) can be confused with rheumatoid arthritis. This is explained by the fact that the symptoms of both diseases are very similar. The signs of osteoarthritis are as follows:
But this type of arthrosis does not affect other joints and internal organs.
The development of gout is associated with a disorder of protein metabolism. This factor leads to crystallization and deposition of uric acid salts. Typically, gout affects and hurts the feet.
Although there are often cases in which the upper limbs are also involved in the inflammation process. Most often the thumb or middle finger. The pain is tearing, burning in nature. There is redness and swelling in the affected area. Motor activity with diarthrosis is extremely difficult.
The symptoms of stenosing ligamentitis are similar to those of arthrosis and arthritis. A true diagnosis can only be made using radiography. The clinical manifestations of the disease are quite typical. When bending or straightening, the hands hurt. Sometimes a palm clenched into a fist can jam. When straightening, clicks are clearly audible.
Diagnosing psoriatic arthritis is not difficult. The disease develops against the background of skin lesions. Pain occurs most often in the nail phalanges with any movement of the fingers.
Infectious arthritis can simultaneously affect many joints. The source of the lesion is an infection introduced through the bloodstream or through a break in the skin. Symptoms of the disease may vary.
Treatment depends on the severity of the lesion. In addition to pain in the joint, high body temperature, fever, and intoxication may occur.
There are many reasons that can cause discomfort in the hands. Most diseases have similar symptoms. Therefore, treatment should always be prescribed by a doctor and only after the correct diagnosis has been made.
When a joint in the leg becomes inflamed, the ability to move usually decreases, the joint swells or swells, and pain appears in it not only when walking and at rest. These are common symptoms for a wide variety of diseases.
Why do my toes hurt? In this article, you will learn about the possible reasons why your big toe hurts and what you need to do in this case.
Inflammation of the joint on the first toe can occur with a number of diseases. These are mainly various joint diseases: arthritis (gout, rheumatoid arthritis, thumb arthritis), osteoarthritis, bursitis.
Common symptoms for all arthritis are:
The presence of these symptoms indicates that it is necessary to urgently consult a doctor, otherwise advanced inflammation will lead to irreversible changes and surgery will be required to restore the mobility of the articular joint.
In acute cases, the pain is severe and frequent, in chronic cases it is periodic. Chronic arthritis is especially dangerous due to unexpressed symptoms, while long-term, low-grade inflammation causes not only deformation of the joint, it can even collapse.
Of the many types of arthritis, the most common are rheumatoid arthritis, infectious arthritis, reactive arthritis and gout. Each of them occurs in its own way and is treated with different methods.
This disease is diagnosed based on characteristic symptoms, as well as on the basis of x-rays and changes in tests. Rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by symmetrical damage to the joints on both legs.
The joints swell, turn red, their mobility is limited, and the person experiences moderate pain. Moreover, after physical activity, stiffness and pain decrease.
The cause of rheumatoid arthritis is autoimmune disorders in the human body.
With them, the immune system attacks the joint tissues, perceiving them as foreign.
Often this inflammation develops a couple of weeks after suffering an acute respiratory infection or sore throat.
When the very first signs appear, you urgently need to consult a rheumatologist. This disease is incurable, but it is possible to significantly reduce the signs of inflammation with the help of medications or synovectomy (surgical treatment). This will help stop the progression of arthritis in time and improve your well-being.
Basic antirheumatic drugs (azathioprine, levamisole, cyclosporine, mesalazine, dixycycline and many others) and biological agents (embrel, kineret, humira, remicade, orencia) are prescribed.
This disease is called meat-eaters' disease due to the fact that it occurs as a result of the deposition of a substance in the joints that is formed during the metabolism of purines. They are especially abundant in meat. Most often, middle-aged men suffer from gout.
inflammation of the thumb joint due to gout
Symptoms include sudden and very sharp, tearing, burning or throbbing pain in the joint. The pain is especially intense at night and subsides in the morning. The joint becomes purplish-red and swollen. Attacks last for 3-4 days up to six times a year and are provoked by excessive consumption of fatty foods and meat, and alcohol intake.
Often advanced gout is accompanied by the deposition of urate in the kidneys, which leads to pyelonephritis and urolithiasis.
For treatment, first of all, you need a diet with limited meat and medications that normalize purine metabolism. To relieve pain, ibuprofen, voltaren, nimulide, movalis are used, as well as a medicine from another group - colchicine, a special short-acting drug.
Attention! Specific medications should only be prescribed by a doctor. Self-medication is unacceptable and dangerous.
With such inflammation, constant pain occurs during movement. After a night's rest, a feeling of stiffness occurs, the joint swells, the skin becomes hot and red. This can cause your body temperature to rise significantly.
This type of arthritis occurs due to infection. It could get directly into the finger joint or through the bloodstream from other organs. Therefore, in addition to local symptoms, general signs of illness in the body also appear:
infectious arthritis of the toe
Treatment of infectious arthritis depends on the causes that caused it. With this inflammation, it is important to detect and treat the underlying infection.
Therefore, antibiotics are prescribed either broad-spectrum or according to test results: penicillins (oxacillin, ampicillin).
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are also prescribed: paracetamol, diclofenac, ibuprofen.
This disease is characterized by a dull pain that usually bothers you during the day. It intensifies after prolonged standing and during physical activity. After rest and in the morning it noticeably decreases. Crunching and clicking may periodically appear in the joints. The finger deviates to the side, loses mobility and becomes deformed. Often, a deformed joint is additionally injured by uncomfortable shoes.
To clarify the diagnosis, the doctor prescribes x-rays and a blood test to check the uric acid level.
If the disease begins to be treated on time, then you can get by with orthopedic shoes, massages, mud therapy, swimming, and physiotherapy. Injections of local anesthetic help reduce pain. Corticosteroids are used to reduce inflammation.
splint on the big toe for bursitis
This is inflammation of the metatarsophalangeal joint of the big toe, which occurs as a result of injuries and microtraumas (uncomfortable shoes), as well as the spread of inflammation from surrounding tissues.
At first, it is characterized by the appearance on the outside of the thumb of a painless tumor-like formation - a “bone” or “bump”. The joint bends, moving outward from the other fingers.
Only after a few months does pain appear along the plantar surface of the foot and in the area of the inflamed joint. Painful corns form on the soles.
The cause of bursitis is impaired pronation and increased mobility of the metatarsal bone. And the metatarsophalangeal joint of the big toe experiences excessive pressure at the moment when the foot pushes off the ground. The thumb tendons are constantly stretched and this causes the thumb to bend outward.
It is easier to treat a joint at those stages when it is bent as little as possible. Therefore, it is necessary to consult a doctor as quickly as possible, without expecting pain. To correct a slight deformation of the big toe, orthopedic shoes are actively used, changing the direction of action of mechanical forces.
If pain in the finger already occurs, then anti-inflammatory drugs and interstitial injections are used to relieve them. In a severe stage, surgery is necessary.
Toes are not among the vital organs. But sometimes they can hurt so much that a person forgets about the existence of other parts of his body.
The reasons that cause pain in one or more toes, or, simply put, pain in the toes, are very diverse.
Let's look at the most common ones.
deforming arthrosis of the big toe
Deforming osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that is accompanied by damage to the cartilage tissue of the joints. It can affect not only the large knee or hip joints, but also the first metatarsophalangeal joint of the foot.
Symptoms. At the beginning of the disease, the big toe hurts only after a long walk. Further, as the pathological process develops, painful sensations may appear even at rest.
Treatment. First of all, limit physical activity. Special physical therapy is prescribed, which helps strengthen the muscles around the affected joint. Drug treatment is aimed at eliminating the inflammatory process and restoring cartilage tissue.
Forecast. If a person does not see a doctor, the disease progresses quickly, the toe continues to hurt, leading to complete destruction of the joint. Timely initiation of treatment can slow down and even stop the progression of the disease.
rheumatoid arthritis affects the small joints of the hands and feet
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that affects small joints.
Symptoms. With rheumatoid arthritis, several joints of the hands and feet are involved in the pathological process. A person complains of pain in the toes or hands, as well as morning stiffness, which is a specific symptom of rheumatoid arthritis.
Treatment. NSAIDs, glucocorticosteroids, chondroprotectors, and monoclonal antibodies are prescribed. An important point in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is the prevention of osteoporosis - destruction of bone tissue. For this purpose, calcium and vitamin D3 preparations are used.
Forecast. The outcome of the disease largely depends on the treatment. Both complete recovery and constant progression of rheumatoid arthritis with further deformation of the joints can be observed.
The most common injuries to the toes are bruises, fractures and dislocations.
Symptoms. The first symptom of any injury is severe pain in the injured toes. In addition, depending on the degree of damage, there is limited mobility of the finger, a change in its shape, redness, swelling, and bleeding.
Treatment. Whatever injury you suffer, you should seek immediate medical attention. The method of treatment depends on the type of injury.
Forecast. Self-medication is fraught with the development of many unpleasant complications, while timely contact with a traumatologist provides a favorable prognosis in almost 100% of cases.
gout or gouty arthritis
Gout is a disorder of uric acid metabolism that results in periodic exacerbations of arthritis of the big toe.
Symptoms. Exacerbation of gouty arthritis occurs suddenly. It is accompanied by severe pain, redness and swelling. To the touch, lumps under the skin are detected - these are crystals of uric acid salts. There are no symptoms outside of exacerbations.
Treatment. An acute attack of gout can be treated in a hospital setting. Colchicine is used for this. Further treatment is aimed at preventing exacerbations of gouty arthritis, including through a special diet.
Forecast. The disease is not completely curable, but can be controlled. If you suspect you have gout, you should immediately consult a doctor.
an ingrown toenail should only be treated by a surgeon
Onychocryptosis is the ingrowth of the nail plate into the skin. Most often it develops on the big toe.
Symptoms. The main symptom of onychocryptosis is severe pain. Damaged tissues become inflamed. Visually, there is a violation of the integrity of the skin, swelling, and redness.
Treatment. Onychocryptosis is completely cured in 1-2 weeks. The surgeon excises the edges of the nail, the nail bed and its root.
Forecast. Correct surgical treatment guarantees the absence of relapses of the disease. Self-medication leads to chronicity of the process, and in some cases, to the development of infectious complications.
Of course, it is quite difficult to describe in one article absolutely all diseases that cause pain in the toes. Therefore, if you feel such pain, you should immediately consult a doctor. There is no need to diagnose yourself and prescribe treatment. This is not only ineffective, but also dangerous to health. Very often, self-medication leads not only to a more severe course of the disease, but also to the development of dangerous complications.
Pain is a sign that something is wrong. For what reasons can your big toe hurt? And what to do in this case?
The nature of the pain may vary. It can be strong or weak, aching or sharp, dull or cutting. As a rule, if the pain is significant, then we are talking about serious inflammation, which can develop in many serious diseases.
Pain can occur at different times. Most often, they appear and intensify during walking, which is associated with the mobility of the joints and the impact on them. But with some diseases, pain appears in the evening after physical activity or, conversely, in the morning or evening.
Pain may be accompanied by other symptoms:
Here are the reasons why your big toe may hurt:
What to do if your big toe hurts a lot? First of all, inspect it. If you find any injuries or bruises, go to the surgeon. If there are no visible signs of injury, then visit a therapist. He will study the symptoms, draw conclusions and refer you to a specialist: a rheumatologist, endocrinologist or neurologist. The doctor will conduct an examination and examination and draw conclusions.
Treatment should be aimed at eliminating the causes, so it will directly depend on the diagnosis. Let us list the main directions and methods used for certain problems and diseases.
If the cause of pain is an injury, then treatment will be aimed at eliminating its consequences. In case of dislocations or fractures, fixing devices are used. For bruises, local remedies are prescribed in the form of gels, ointments and creams, such as Troxevasin, Heparin Ointment, Finalgon and others. You can make an iodine grid. If the pain is severe, then you can take a painkiller, for example, Nurofen or Pentalgin.
Folk remedies also help with bruises. Thus, a gruel made from fresh onions is effective. You can add plantain or wormwood leaves. Bodyaga will also help.
Diabetes mellitus requires constant medical supervision, regular blood sugar measurements, the use of medications that lower glucose levels (insulin), and adherence to a strict diet that involves limiting the consumption of carbohydrate foods. As for folk recipes, a decoction of walnut partitions, an infusion of celery root and some other remedies are effective.
In most cases, ingrown toenails can be removed. Only a surgeon can perform it.
In case of gout, a diet aimed at reducing uric acid levels plays an important role. The diet includes cereals, dairy and fermented milk products, vegetables and fruits, nuts, and baked goods. You should not eat red meat, offal, beans, salted or fried fish, or strong meat broths.
You should give up alcohol and reduce your consumption of strong tea and coffee. During the period of exacerbation of the disease, anti-inflammatory drugs are prescribed, such as Diclofenac, Nise, Indomethacin and others.
Treatment with folk remedies will relieve pain during exacerbations. You can make compresses from fish or lard. A mass made from activated carbon and alcohol will also help. Chopped onions are effective.
For arthritis, chondroprotective drugs are prescribed to protect and restore joint tissue; anti-inflammatory drugs that relieve inflammation and eliminate pain; vitamin preparations that help replenish the deficiency of substances necessary for normal joint function.
Tinctures of bay leaves and potatoes, as well as apple cider vinegar, help. All these products are used externally. To normalize the functioning of the joints, therapeutic exercises are prescribed.
For arthrosis, as for arthritis, chondroprotectors, anti-inflammatory drugs (including hormonal drugs used for severe tissue damage), physiotherapeutic procedures and gymnastics are prescribed. Cabbage leaves applied to sore joints, compresses made from yogurt and chalk help.
In case of hallux valgus, special orthopedic devices will help, fixing the thumb and preventing its further displacement. Such folk remedies as turpentine, infusions and decoctions of propolis, and bodyaga will help.
Don't let pain in your big toe bother you!
Let's take a closer look at how the diagnoses differ and are similar.
Those who know little about the real clinical picture call arthrosis gout. This is a huge mistake. Diseases are different and require different approaches to treatment. The only thing they have in common is pain in the big toe.
Arthrosis accompanies mostly women, and gout accompanies men. This is due to the fact that women more often sacrifice the health of their feet for beautiful, but uncomfortable shoes. If a woman wears tight shoes that compress the bones, fingers and foot, then deformation of the big toe occurs. Under the influence of walking, not only the bones of the thumbs, but also the joints begin to suffer. Inflammation begins in them. They begin to increase in size. Over time, any movement of the thumb causes pain. And later the bones of the thumb hurt even at rest. If you do not pay attention to this in time, then the curvature, compaction and thickening will deform the bones so much that the reverse process will no longer happen. The finger may remain in the wrong position forever. This causes friction against the shoes and inflammation in the tissues around the joints. After this, inflammation of the joint occurs. The big toe becomes swollen and red.
As a consequence, the process covers the rest of the toes and foot. Unfortunately, this process cannot be stopped or corrected with medications. This cannot be done without the help of a surgeon. Therefore, women who love narrow heels should think carefully about the consequences of wearing such shoes. At the slightest pain, you need to change your favorite shoes to comfortable ones, give your feet rest and stop the deformation of the remaining toes. Why women are so reckless and do not pay due attention to the health of their feet can be explained. Beauty, up to a certain age, is more important to them.
Unlike arthrosis, gout has completely different conditions for its appearance. Everything is much more complicated here. Among the reasons cited are metabolic disorders. Uric acid salts, instead of being eliminated from the body, are deposited in the joints and kidneys. This injures the organs and causes severe pain. Inflammation of the joints is the beginning of the disease. It is the lower extremities that suffer first.
The first attack of gout begins with inflammation of the big toe of the right or left foot. As a rule, the finger begins to hurt sharply. This appears at night.
If gout is not diagnosed in time, the disease will enter a long-term phase. The inflammation may persist for several months. There may be an increase in body temperature, redness of the tissues on the finger at the joint and where the nail is. The main causes of gout are poor lifestyle, diet, and alcohol abuse. This disease is one of the first described by doctors. Why it was called the disease of aristocrats is not difficult to guess. The disease affected people with high material income due to their large and incontinent appetite and alcohol abuse.
If, with arthrosis, a process of deformation of the finger, bone, or nail occurs, which can be corrected by a surgeon, then gout becomes a consequence of a number of causes that can be eliminated. Medicines, lifestyle changes and dietary changes can help here.
The disease is associated with the degeneration of fibrous tissue and its thickening in the foot.
More such cases have been registered in women over the age of 35, on the right or left leg. The disease does not often occur on both legs at the same time. The source of pain spreads to the thumb. Although the development of the disease occurs where the bones of the third and fourth toes are located. Sometimes, between the bones of the second and third fingers. Very rarely, the disease affects other fingers and bones. Here the reasons also lie in the mechanical effect on the feet and fingers. Incorrect shoes, flat feet, overload, injuries - these are the factors that increase the risk of acquiring plantar fasciitis (this is the second name of the disease). The big toe hurts just like the rest. The main discomfort occurs at the base of the finger.
Women are affected by this disease five times more often than men.
The relationship between diabetes and toe pain may seem strange. Unfortunately, the disease is so complex that it involves many organs, nerve endings, and limbs. After a hard day, long walking, overload, the bone on the toe may hurt at night or in the morning. In addition, you may feel a burning sensation in your feet.
An ingrown toenail is also a consequence of mechanical stress. Incorrect shoe shape, toe injuries, fractures, dislocations, nails cut too deep, infections and fungi - all this causes inflammation in the joint.
You can determine that a nail is becoming ingrown by several signs: a change in shape, redness of the upper part of the finger near the nail, possible discharge of pus, the finger experiences acute pain with a twitching character.
Ingrown toenails are a common problem. You should not self-medicate; the problem can worsen.
In addition to all the above reasons, painful sensations can occur due to a huge layer of dead cells. These growths must be removed so that blood circulation is not obstructed.
The legs bear the greatest physical load. All day long they carry a body whose weight sometimes exceeds their strength. If you experience any pain, be it pain in a bone, a finger or a foot, you need to pay close attention to the signal. If there is a suspicion that pain in the toes may be inflammation, you need to seek help from a neurologist, traumatologist, endocrinologist or surgeon.
The prognosis is favorable. For pain, take NSAIDs (movalis, nise, arcoxia). You can also take chondroprotectors (Teraflex) for six-month courses. It is advisable to select a set of exercises from a physical therapy doctor.
I have experience taking chondroprotectors and other drugs, Teraflex helped a lot. In fact, I’ve already tried a lot, but only Teraflex really helped, although its course is of course long. . But after it (pah-pah-pah) it became easier, the pain went away, it became easy to move, the aching pains and other inconveniences disappeared as if by hand. The drug is really very good, strong and effective.
Pain in the thumb can occur after a bruise has occurred, and can also be the cause of the first signs of osteoarthritis and tendinitis of the finger, which in most cases occurs in young people. In such cases, swelling becomes obvious, which manifests itself in the process of writing, when opening iron cans, or when turning the key in the door.
In addition to pain, a slight tingling sensation may be felt when a person tries to hold any small objects in this hand. If osteoarthritis is present, the pain may well be localized in one single joint or spread to several at once. It is most common among women after forty years of age. In addition, pain can be the result of various previous ligament injuries, any prolonged stress, or due to hereditary causes.
Pain in the thumb can occur for a variety of reasons. Of course, it can be caused by a previous bruise or sprain, but in most cases the pain is caused by the so-called Raynaud's syndrome or carpal tunnel syndrome. In these two cases, in addition to the presence of pain symptoms, numbness of three fingers may also be observed. The discomfort that occurs with numbness usually increases when the arm is raised.
Raynaud's syndrome develops as a result of pregnancy and the use of hormonal contraceptives, as well as after stress and certain systemic diseases (for example, rheumatoid arthritis). The main causes of pain in carpal tunnel syndrome are stretching or various inflammatory processes of the ligaments, which contribute to compression of the nerves. It develops when repetitive movements of the same type are carried out for a long time (working on a conveyor belt or printing, for example).
In addition, when a finger hurts severely, it may be a consequence of polyosteoarthrosis. The main symptom of this disease is the formation of peculiar nodules in the first joint of the finger near the nail. Because of this, this disease is often called knobby fingers. The tendency to such a disease is seen in most cases in women aged about forty-five years. In addition to pain symptoms (which a bruise has), when a knot forms in the joints, there is a burning sensation and redness occurs.
Rheumatoid arthritis and ligament injuries also cause pain. In this case, movement restrictions appear. As a rule, women suffer from this disease more often than men, and it manifests itself at absolutely any age. The main predisposing factors here are various infectious diseases, past influenza or hypothermia, as well as stress. The predominant sign of this type of arthritis is damage to a finger on both hands at the same time (symptoms are similar to a sprain).
Also, the finger hurts due to psoriatic arthritis, but before the joints begin to hurt when bending, the skin stage of psoriasis, the so-called psoriatic plaques, is observed.
Another of the most common causes of pain symptoms (mainly in men) is injury and gout. However, gouty arthritis immediately affects the joint located at the very base. Painful sensations from gout, like sprains, are characterized by unbearably sharp and severe pain, and the inflammatory process is accompanied by red skin and increased temperature at the joint, so the color of the finger is usually purple.
As a rule, the process of treating joint diseases is carried out by a rheumatologist or neurologist. In some cases, the thumb may hurt due to a previous injury to the ligaments (bruise, trauma or burn). In this case, you need to consult a traumatologist, and he can accurately determine whether it is a bruise or a sprained finger.
The thumb is not built exactly like the others. Visually, it is smaller than the others, the reason for this is the presence of two phalanges, while the other fingers have three, so their bruise is quite dangerous.
The significance of this finger is quite great for a person, since it helps him to carry heavy objects and take inconvenient things, so his injury is very dangerous. With the help of these fingers, pressure is applied to the object from one side, and the other from the other side, thus, this thing can be held very firmly in the hands without injuring the ligaments.
In this case, one thumb in the process of grasping has the same strength as all the others combined. The reason for this is the rather large brain particles responsible for the mobility of the thumbs; they are significantly larger in volume than those that control the other fingers.
To relieve pain in the thumb, the following conditions must be met: