Arthritis of the foot: causes of the disease and methods of treatment
Arthritis of the foot is the inflammation of the joints, which are deformed at the same time. The person feels pain, it is difficult for him to walk. Often people do not pay attention to the first symptoms and do not immediately go to the doctor.
Causes of
Disease Inflammation and joint deformity can develop for a number of reasons. The most common are the following:
1. Infectious - the disease can begin because of viral infections. These include syphilis, gonorrhea, acute tonsillitis.
2. Traumatic - unsuccessful fall, accident, injuries - all this can push to the onset of the disease. Inflammation of the joints can occur if you wear uncomfortable shoes or regularly load during sports.
3. Autoimunnal - if cartilage tissue is damaged and the body begins to tear off its cells. In this case, not only the joints of the foot, but also the fingers of the hands, can be affected.
4. Specific - develops with psoriasis or gout.
Details about the causes, symptoms and methods of treating foot arthrosis are told , and below you will find a squeeze out of this information.
Symptoms of the disease
When arthritis stops, patients complain of pain in their legs, which becomes stronger if a person walks or stands for long. There are redness of the joint, swelling, the skin in the affected area becomes hot. When walking, joints can crunch, the foot loses mobility, a person can hardly move his toes with his fingers.
Other symptoms include weakness, fever, loss of appetite, fever. But arthritis of the feet is difficult to diagnose, since in most cases the symptoms are individual. For example, if a person has gout, inflammation of the joints can begin after taking alcohol. In this case, the first finger on the foot is struck. In psoriasis, the lesion affects the distal interphalangeal joints, which swell and resemble sausages.
You need to go to the doctor to see if your legs hurt while walking. A rheumatologist or an orthopedist will examine the foot and the shin, will understand how much the joints are deformed, whether the foot is moveable, will check how the patient walks. If the pain in the leg occurred after the injury, then you need to make an appointment with a traumatologist. In this case, it is not difficult to establish a correct diagnosis.
A patient with suspected arthritis should take an X-ray of the foot, joint ultrasound, MRI and computed tomography. In particularly difficult cases, doctors resort to biochemical analysis of blood and blood testing for sugar, and also puncture small joints.
Treatment of arthritis
Treatment of joint inflammation is prescribed by a doctor, it is individual. There are several options for how to overcome this disease: surgery, physiotherapy and taking medications.
Kinds of medicines:
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs reduce swelling and pain.
Glucocorticosteroids are administered intra-articularly to reduce pain.
Antibiotics prescribe if inflammation is caused by an infection.
Chondroprotectors give the cartilage tissue not only not to be destroyed, but also to be restored.
It is also possible to apply a gypsum tire to fix the foot and reduce the load on it. A special diet should adhere to the sick gout.
As part of physiotherapy for inflammation of the joints, the feet are treated with mud, prescribe magnetotherapy and exercise therapy, they are sent to sessions of foot massage. Doctors recommend to carefully consider the choice of shoes: it should not be cramped, it is worth abandoning high heels. Also need to use orthopedic insoles or wear special shoes.
If the disease has been started, then surgical intervention is required. Conducted either endoprosthetics of metatarsophalangeal joints, or arthroplasty.
Folk remedies
Treatment of arthritis alone can begin only after a conversation with a doctor, as improper actions can aggravate the course of the disease. Folk remedies, basically, help to reduce pain.
Folk remedies:
1. A warming compress with a slice of lemon - put on an inflamed place. If the pain becomes stronger, then immediately remove it.
2. Warming pack of potatoes - peel the potatoes, grate them, put them in a saucepan, add water and heat to +38 degrees. Then a potato 1.5 cm thick is put in a tissue bag. The compress is applied to the leg, wrapped with oilcloth and fixed with a bandage. It is done at night.
3. Mustards - warm the inflamed joint, reduce pain and inflammation.
4. Decoction of nettles - drink twice a week or more. It purifies the blood of toxins.
5. Compress with sea salt - rub the fir oil in the inflamed place, and then apply a compress with the heated sea salt.
Prevention of
To reduce the risk of joints, you need to choose good shoes, stop smoking and stress in the office and during training, monitor weight. Try to avoid injuries to the legs and in time to eliminate infectious diseases.
Severe form of inflammation of the joints of the foot can lead to limp, worsening gait and even disability.