Are You Experiencing Finger Joint Pain?

Our hands are so important to our everyday activities and the fingers play an even more important role. But pain in our hands and fingers can easily LIMIT what we can do every hour of every day from opening a car door, a jar of peanut butter, writing on a keyboard or even enjoying a great meal as the knife and fork just feels differently in our fingers because they HURT. What causes all of this unwanted FINGER JOINT PAIN? Perhaps it’s the onset of arthritis, and there are a number of things we can do to offset or minimize the pain we feel just doing everyday functions.

Some Causal Reasons for Finger Joint Pain

There are so many causes and sources for joint pain. The range can include joint conditions, overuse or repetitive actions or even trauma. However, the most common condition for finger joint PAIN comes from the age-old disease known as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and even psoriasis arthritis. These conditions are often referred to as autoimmune diseases. While these conditions causing finger joint PAIN are not always limited to the fingers, they can affect many, many parts of the body but when they involve the joints of the hands they create a condition known as finger arthritis. When cases like this get severe it can lead to deformities of the hand making the things we do on a daily basis very difficult and very PAINFUL.

With severe cases of rheumatoid arthritis of the hands, some form of deformity of the fingers can result. This factor, called ULNER DRIFT can result in the fingers all deviating toward the pinky side of the hand making even basic work very DIFFICULT and the finger joint pain unbearable.

Overuse of the hand and finger joints can result in a common source of finger joint PAIN called osteoarthritis. Because the joints of the hand and fingers are lined with a layer of thin cartilage called articular cartilage, extensive use of the hand or fingers can over time cause a thinning of this layer leading to an inflammation of the JOINTS. Persons suffering from this type of inflammation often feel the PAIN of joint stiffness, swelling, stiffness, redness and just plain PAIN and many times all day and night. Often times FINGER ARTHRITIS can attack one finger or many. Perhaps the one part of the hand that is most likely to be afflicted is the basal or CMC joint of the thumb which over time leads to significant THUMB JOINT PAIN.

Other common causes of FINGER JOINT PAIN are…

CARPAL TUNEL SYNDROME.  Neurological in nature, the finger joint PAIN from this affliction is caused by the pinching of the median nerve as it travels through the carpel tunnel area. Many activities can create a painful condition associated with the narrowed carpel tunnel leading to finger joint PAIN, numbness and weakness in the area of the thumb as well as the two first fingers.

TRIGGER FINGER is another form of an OVERUSE injury but less common. It is actually a type of TENDONITIS. Because fingers flex due to tendons located on the palm side of the hand that connect to the muscles of the forearm, repetitive gripping exercises can cause the tendons to SWELL. Many times the sheath that protects the tendon does not stretch as designed leaving the finger in a FLEXED position which can be PAINFUL.

TRAUMA is another cause of finger JOINT PAIN. Any type of injury can create FINGER JOINT PAIN. Trauma many times can affect the ligaments, tendons and bones depending on the severity of the injury.

A JAMMED FINGER is caused by spraining the support ligaments. With significant cases, the ligaments can become torn resulting in a dislocation of the afflicted finger. When this happens the joint must be reset and immobilized to allow for healing.

FINGER DISLOCATIONS can also result in small pieces of the bone being pulled off when the ligament is torn resulting in an AVULSION FRACTURE and it can cause finger joint pain. A fracture of the finger often results in some type of ligament or tendon involvement. Trauma to these tendons means the finger will have limited movement and without proper attention can result in a permanent deformity and finger joint pain. In mild cases, the finger or fingers will need to be splinted and in some cases surgery may be required to reattach tendons. Cuts or lacerations to the fingers or hand and disrupt tendons and also require surgery. In all cases, finger joint pain is a steady reminder of the injury.