Causes of Hand Pain and Treatment Options

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Hand pain can be bothersome because it hampers your daily activity and schedule. It can leave you depressed and in pain as you are unable to accomplish your goals. But, why does one have pain?

The causes of hand pain can be diverse. Whatever be the cause, it is important to treat the same so that you can resume your normal schedule as soon as possible. Let us analyse the possible causes of hand pain:

Osteoarthritisor OA is a degenerative joint disorder that is caused due to joint and cartilage breakdown. It can become serious with time.
Carpal Tunnel Syndromeis a nerve compression of the median nerve that travels through the wrist. It is characterised by pain and stiffness. It can impact the grip strength of the person.
Rheumatoid Arthritisor RA is an autoimmune disorder that impacts the joints in the body. It results in swollen and painful joints.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease and causes inflammation/pain in any part of the body.
Peripheral Neuropathyis the condition that diabetes patients can experience due to nerve damage that results in numbness, pain, and a tingling feeling in the arms, hands, or legs.
Fibromyalgia is a condition in which the person feels chronic muscle pain and tiredness. It leads to joint pain in any body part. The person may experience pain in the hands.
Accident/trauma
Tendonitis is inflammation of the area around a tendon. It impacts the movement of the hands and fingers or the site that is swollen. Injury is the primary cause of this condition.
Ganglion Cyst most often develops in the wrist and disrupts hand movement. Joints in the human body contain fluid and cysts can occur in the fluid when it collects and forms a bump. Hands have multiple joints and hence the issue is more common in the hand and wrist joints.

Diagnosing the problem:

It is essential to get the problem investigated by the healthcare provider so that the exact cause of hand pain is known. It is significant so that the right treatment plan can be suggested by the experts. The investigations can be executed through X-Rays, Ultrasounds, CT scans, or MRI.

Treatment Options:

The treatment procedure to deal with hand pain is primarily divided into two parts:

Conventional Treatment
Specialised Treatment

Let us first consider the options available under the category of Conventional Treatment:

Pain Killers

This is the most common approach that doctors prescribe when they diagnose mild hand pain for patients. Over-the-counter medicines do help in subsiding the pain to an extent. Non-Steroidal and Inflammatory Medicines or NSAIDs help curb the swelling and pain.

Home Remedies

Patients can be prescribed with heat/cold compress. Ice helps in reducing inflammation and heat aids in reducing the stiffness in joints. Heating helps in relaxing the tight joints and is particularly helpful in dealing with Osteoarthritis. Ice helps deal with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome as it aids in reducing irritation.

Stretches and Exercises

The healthcare provider can prescribe special exercises and stretches designed to curb hand pain. The finger bend exercises help to reduce joint stiffness. MySquegg smart ball is effective in dealing with grip issues and can aid in restoring grip strength. Specific tendon and nerve-gliding exercises can be executed under expert supervision. Hand gripper blood pressure reduction exercises are extremely helpful in relieving joint stiffness. Such exercises can help to reduce resting blood pressure to restore mobility.

Splints

The experts can advise wearing hand splints and braces meant to provide support for finger and wrist pain. The aim of splinting is to allow joints to rest so that swelling subsides. Moreover, it also aids in aligning the joints to reduce irritation and further damage to the joints.

Now, let us consider reviewing the Alternative/Specialised Treatment procedures:

Acupuncture

In this treatment procedure, the patients have to undergo needle insertion into the muscles of their hands to experience hand relief. The medical treatment helps to relieve pressure points and aids in pain reduction. It is helpful to relieve issues that impact the soft tissues.

Surgery

In chronic cases, the experts prescribe surgery. In the case of Osteoarthritis advanced cases, joint replacement is considered as an ideal approach. The treatment process is lengthy and requires Physiotherapy sessions as a post-surgical treatment procedure.

Final Thoughts

The treatment procedures are prescribed by the experts and the patients are advised to follow the same so that they can look forward to leading a normal life thereafter. Hand pain affects the normal working pattern and schedule of the people.