How to judge finger rheumatism

Hands are the most flexible part of the human body. They help people complete tasks big and small throughout their lives. We cannot live without hands. Although hands are very rough in function, we must not be rough in taking care of them. If you often work outside or do not pay attention to the care of your hands, you will develop some illnesses, leading to a decline in the quality of life. If the hands get rheumatism, they will be very painful. In order to prevent rheumatism in the hands, how should we judge rheumatism in the fingers?

Rheumatoid arthritis is a common chronic systemic autoimmune disease characterized by synovitis. It is a type of rheumatic disease with fatigue, weight loss, low-grade fever, and numbness of the hands and feet as early symptoms. It gradually develops into a certain joint lesion and causes symmetrical swelling and pain in multiple joints.

Morning stiffness: In the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis, patients often experience stiffness in their fingers when they wake up in the morning, which gradually eases after activity. As the disease progresses, morning stiffness becomes more severe and lasts longer, up to more than an hour.

Fear of cold: The patient's fingers are particularly sensitive to cold. Once they come into contact with cold water, they easily turn white, purple, numb, and feel a tingling sensation or even pain. This is because the fingertip arteries are prone to spasm when exposed to cold, which is medically known as Raynaud's phenomenon.

Proximal: The proximal (near trunk) interphalangeal joints are prone to rheumatoid arthritis. The metacarpophalangeal joints may be invaded, but the distal interphalangeal joints will never be invaded. Many non-specialist doctors often misdiagnose hyperplastic arthritis of the distal interphalangeal joints and even Kaschin-Beck disease as rheumatoid arthritis.

Ulnar deviation: the thumb side is the finger side, and the little finger side is the ulnar side. In the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis, fingers can be seen deviating toward the ulnar side, while in normal people, most of them deviate slightly toward the ulnar side, especially the little finger.

Muscular atrophy: Rheumatoid arthritis patients often have symptoms of phalangeal muscle atrophy in the early stages, which together with the swollen proximal interphalangeal joints form what are medically known as "fusiform" or "bean-shaped" changes.

Pigmentation: Pigmentation of dark brown (black) color is often seen on the dorsal side of the affected interphalangeal joints. At the same time, local skin may become keratinized and thickened.

Symmetry: The prominent feature of rheumatoid arthritis finger joint damage is the symmetry of both hands. Sometimes in the early stage, only the proximal joint of the middle finger is swollen, but the damage should be symmetrical between the left and right middle fingers, and rarely unilateral. The latter is common in traumatic arthritis and tuberculous arthritis.

In traditional Chinese medicine, the cause of rheumatism is deficiency of the liver and kidneys, and the disease roams between the tendons and bones, similar to gout and rheumatism in Western medicine. Clinically, it is divided into three types according to symptoms:

(1) Rheumatism. Symptoms include numbness and pain: rheumatism and wind are involved, causing pain in the joints, pain that makes it difficult to bend or stretch the joints, and aggravation of pain when touched. There is sweating, shortness of breath, difficulty urinating, aversion to wind and unwillingness to take off clothes, or slight swelling of the body. Gancao Fuzi Decoction is the main treatment.

(2) Blood stasis. Symptoms are numbness but no pain. Blood stasis. Both yin and yang are weak. Cunkou and Guanshang are weak. Chizhong and small are tight. External symptoms are numbness of the body, such as rheumatism. Huangqi Guizhi Wuwu Decoction is the main treatment.

(3) Li-Jiang. Symptoms include pain without numbness: pain in all joints, thin body, swollen feet, dizziness, shortness of breath, and nausea. Guizhi Shaoyao Zhimu Decoction is the main treatment. For knee pain.