Stiff
joints are symptoms that range from slight functional impairments to complete
stiffness of the joints. In principle, joint stiffness can occur in all
joints, but the functional restrictions are increasingly observed in those who
are exposed to particularly high loads in everyday life. These include,
above all, the large joints, such as the knee joint, hip joint, shoulders and
elbows. Since many forms of joint stiffness threaten permanent
deterioration in joint function without therapeutic countermeasures, medical
help should sought as soon as possible in the case of stiff joints.
definition
The colloquial term "stiff joints"
describes limitations in the ability to move in the joints, which can range
from minimal functional impairment to extremely painful complete joint
stiffness. In the medical world, the stiff joints can be described in
so-called contractures, which are a functional restriction of the joint due to
impairment of the surrounding tissue structures (ligaments, muscles, tendons,
fascia) and the joint stiffness directly caused by damage in the
joint. The latter can also be due to damage to the bone substance, for
example. healthbeautystudio
Symptoms of
stiff joints
Stiffness of the joints is a far-reaching
symptomatology, the symptoms of which range from minimal impairment of movement
to complete fixation of the joints. The complaints are often associated
with pain, which occurs mainly when moving or exercising. Sometimes,
however, there is pain in the joint area even when the patient is at rest. In
the case of various joint diseases, the joints also appear reddened and
overheated.
Depending on the joints affected, the degree of
joint stiffness and the causes of the complaints, impairments of varying degree
of severity can be seen in the everyday life of the patient. For example,
if the hip joint is stiff, the people affected are often significantly
restricted in their ability to move, which makes their everyday life much more
difficult. Climbing stairs is often barely possible and even going to the
toilet can be associated with painful complications. A detailed
description of the symptoms including the respective accompanying symptoms is
then given in connection with the explanations on the causes of joint
stiffness.
Causes of
stiff joints
The possible triggers of stiff joints are extremely
complex and include both congenital diseases and acute joint diseases and
sometimes even psychogenic factors. The following detailed description of
the individual causes of joint stiffness shows the broad spectrum of potential
triggers that must be taken into account in the diagnosis. The joint
diseases (arthropathies), which can result in joint stiffness, are roughly
divided into infectious arthropathies, inflammatory polyarthropathies,
non-inflammatory osteoarthritis diseases and other joint diseases.
Infections as
a cause of joint stiffness
If bacteria get into the joint via open wounds (for
example during an operation) or via the bloodstream and settle here, there is a
risk of purulent bacterial arthritis, which is associated with a strong
inflammatory reaction in the joint area. If superficial joints are
affected, they are often red, swollen and overheated. The patients feel
permanent joint pain, which increases with movement or exertion. Often
those affected tend to relieve pain because of the pain. The mobility of
the joint is increasingly restricted in the course of purulent arthritis and
there is no therapeutic treatment, there is a risk of irreversible damage to
the joint structures. The destruction of the articular cartilage begins
after a relatively short time.
General infectious diseases can
also affect the joints and cause arthritis with corresponding joint
stiffness. A possible cause is, for example, a meningococcal infection,
with which further symptoms such as high fever , chills , body aches , nausea and vomiting or even impaired consciousness can occur. Other
infectious diseases such as rubella, mumps, tuberculosis, borreliosis , typhoid or gonorrhea can also cause
arthritis.
The accompanying symptoms are extremely different
for the various infectious diseases and the stiff joints are by no means a
leading symptom. Those affected often show significant other symptoms and
the joint problems are more of a side effect. A key clue to most
infectious disease is concomitant fever. If, in addition to the joint
stiffness, the body temperature is increased, a doctor must be consulted
urgently. It is not uncommon for symptom to appear in the joints only
after an infectious disease has been overcome. These are called reactive arthritis .
Inflammatory
polyarthropathies
Inflammatory processes often develop in the joints
even without an infection, the most common form being rheumatoid or chronic polyarthritis . Typically, not only
individual joints are affected here.
At the beginning of the relapsing disease, the
symptoms manifest as pain in the finger and toe joints. In addition to the
pain, there is often pronounced joint stiffness, especially in the morning
after getting up. In addition, there are unspecific general symptoms such
as chronic fatigue , exhaustion and
increased night sweating . During the
flare-ups, the joints are significantly swollen and overheated. As a rule,
the symptoms appear symmetrically on both halves of the body, i.e. the same
joints are affected on the left hand as on the right. On the right foot,
the same as on the left.
In the long term, the joints are destroyed by
rheumatoid polyarthritis and those affected show complete joint stiffness with
a fixed incorrect posture. Also, in the late stages of the disease, an
increasing loss of the muscles sets in. In the end, many patients can no
longer perform even the simplest everyday tasks with their hands. The
transition from rheumatoid arthritis to the larger joints, which can be
observed less often, also leads to an increasing loss of
function. Depending on which joints are affect, for example knee pain , hip pain or ankle pain can
occur as accompanying symptoms.
If the cervical spine is affected as part of the
disease, there may be a risk of compression of the spinal cord. Chronic
polyarthritis can also spread to the organs and thus trigger, for
example, an inflammation of the blood vessels, an inflammation of the pericardium (pericarditis), an
inflammation of the inner lining of the heart (endocraditis) or an inflammation
of the lungs with corresponding symptoms.
Inflammatory polyarthropathies also include
so-called juvenile arthritis, which describes inflammation of the joints in
childhood that occurs for no apparent reason. The affected children look
ailing, are tearful and avoid movement. They may also adopt a relieving
posture due to the pain, which in turn can lead to contractures in the long
run. Sometimes the growth of the joint-forming bones is also
impaired. In addition, those affected occasionally suffer from an
irregular, itchy rash. Swelling of the lymph node, liver and spleen is
typical of juvenile arthritis. In the worst case, the disease leads to
irreversible growth impairment and organ damage in the children.
The metabolic disease gout also leads to painful
inflammation of the joints, whereby the deposition of uric acid crystals in the
joints area is considered to be the main trigger. In principle, all joints
can be affected by gout, but the symptoms usually appear in the area of the
toe, wrist and finger joints. Concomitant symptoms of an acute gout
attack, in addition to the typical joint complaints, are general symptoms such
as fever or headache . Other
diseases, such as chondrocalcinosis, are also associated with crystalline
deposits in the joints and corresponding joint problems.
Other possible causes of inflammatory
polyarthropathy include, for example, so-called hip rhinitis (coxitis fugax)
and diseases such as an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), overfunction of the thyroid gland (hyperthyroidism)
or congenital sickle cell anemia.
Diabetes mellitus can
also trigger what is known as neuropathic arthropathy in the long
term. In addition, sarcoid disease (also called Boeck's disease) leads in
rare cases to inflammatory processes in the joint area and corresponding joint
stiffness. This applies in a similar way to special forms of so-called
amyloidoses (pathological protein deposits in the intercellular
space). Numerous other factors can trigger non-infectious joint
complaints, although a complete list at this point would go beyond the scope. As
a rule, however, stiff joints that are associated with inflammatory processes
can be traced back to one of the causes mentioned.
Osteoarthritis
as the cause
Arthrosis refers to wear and tear on the joints,
which in the long term can lead to significant functional impairment or even a
complete loss of function of the affected joints. The causes are mostly
incorrect loads in the joint area, which lead to increased signs of wear and
tear on the cartilage tissue or the joint-forming bones. The trigger of
the incorrect loading is usually a so-called dysplasia, i.e. a misalignment in
the joint area. This can be congenital or can be traced back to an
accident, for example. As an example of congenital dysplasia, hip
dysplasia should be mentioned here, which is one of the most common causes of
the relatively widespread hip arthrosis .
Osteoarthritis usually develops over a longer
period of time, with pain occurring under stress being a typical symptom in the
early stages. As the diseases progresses, there may be swelling and
deformation of the joints as well as increasing joint stiffness. The joint
noises recorded during movement are also typical. Joint wear generally
increases with age. Accordingly, most osteoarthritis patients are already
at an advanced age. Years of incorrect loading in the joint area show
their consequences here. However, acute injuries, for example as part of
an accident, can also lead to premature wear of the joints. This so-called
post-traumatic osteoarthritis also affects people of younger age.
In all forms of osteoarthritis, joint wear and tear
usually extends over a long period of time before those affected complain of
stiff joints or other complaints. Therefore, the irreversible damage to
the joint in osteoarthritis is often well advanced before medical help is
sought. A complete restoration of the joint function is therefore in many
cases significantly more difficult or impossible.
Congenital
stiffness of the joint
Some people are born with arthrogryposis multiplex
congenita (AMC), a special form of joint stiffness. The typical
malformations of the disease usually occur between the eighth and eleventh week
of pregnancy. The severity of the diseases can vary
significantly. While some children only show adhesions of individual joints,
in others numerous joints and other organs are malformed. The muscles,
tendons and fasciae in the joint area are also affected by the growth
impairment, which further restricts the ability to move. The children are
born with noticeable contractures and deformities of the joints. The
joints in the arm and leg area are increasingly affected. Shoulder joints,
elbows, wrists and individual finger joints, but also the hip and knee
joints are particularly often changed in the course of the disease. The
causes of the disease are largely unknown to this day, although AMC is
definitely one of the more common growth impairments in newborns.
Other causes
of stiff joints
Numerous other triggers of joint stiffness come
into consideration in addition to the factors mentioned above. Movement
restrictions in the joints can also be observed in connection with neurogenic
diseases such as polio. Sometimes the contraction of the outer layers of
the skin, for example due to scarring after a burn, leads to stiffening in the
joint area. If the vision shortens, this can also cause a
contracture. The same applies to the shrinking or contraction of fasciae,
for example after an injury or prolonged immobilization. So-called
psychogenic contractures are also known in the specialist field, in which those
affected consciously or subconsciously do not move a joint due to a traumatic
event.
Diagnosis
On the basis of the description of the symptoms and
the externally visible changes (reddening, swelling, overheating, deformation),
the cause of the stiff joints can usually be clearly narrowed down. Some
simple movement exercises can provide other important pointers. Many forms
of contractures can be identified relatively clearly in this
way. Ultrasound examinations make pathological changes in the joint area,
such as purulent arthritis, visible. Blood tests or evidence of increased
inflammation levels in the blood can also be used to confirm the
diagnosis. Imaging procedure such as x-rays, computed tomography and
magnetic resonance tomography,
Another method of examination for suspected joint
damage is minimally invasive arthroscopy, which allows an endoscope to look
inside the joints. This not only enables the diagnosis to be made, but also
allows for minor therapeutic interventions as part of the examination
respectively. This so-called therapeutic arthroscopy is used relatively
frequently today.
treatment
The treatment of joint stiffness must always be
geared towards the respective causes of the complaints and can therefore vary
significantly. For example, while arthritis caused by bacteria is often
treated with antibiotics, medication offers little relief in
osteoarthritis. Instead, physiotherapy is of particular importance, which
is not helpful in most forms of arthritis. Purulent arthritis often
requires surgical intervention to avoid lasting destruction of the affected
joints and the development of life-threatening blood poisoning. Operations
can also be used in osteoarthritis patients to restore joint function. In
case of doubt, a prosthesis is implanted, such as an artificial hip
joint. Occasionally, however, the joint function can already be restored
with the minimally invasive method of arthroscopy.
When treating contractures, physical therapy is the
first choice of treatment options. The stiff joints should regain their
original mobility through active and passive exercises. Massages and heat
therapies can also be used. Special splints and bandages serve to avoid
the occurrence of contractures in everyday life. In the field of naturopathy,
manual procedures such as osteopathy or Rolfing
are the main onesfor the
treatment of contractures. Acupuncture is also often used here. This
is also often used in the naturopathic treatment of arthritis. However, if
the measures mentioned do not work, surgery to remove the contracture is often
the last option, as is the case with arthritis.
technologyify worldbeautytips technologyford techiesin blog4techies
