Rheumatism | Joint swelling on the finger

Rheumatism

A rheumatic disease can be a cause of joint swelling in the finger. An important indication for a rheumatic disease is the infestation of several joints. Rheumatoid arthritis often progresses insidiously and usually manifests itself first at small joints, such as the finger joints.

The terminal joints of the fingers are not affected in most cases. A severe swelling of the base and middle joints of the fingers develops. This swelling is often very elastic and soft. Inflammatory changes can affect not only the joints but also the tendons and ligaments of the fingers. Further symptoms that speak for a joint swelling at the finger caused by rheumatism are a stiffness of the fingers in the morning, pain, deformations and malpositions of the fingers, a general feeling of illness such as fatigue, fever or exhaustion, a restriction of movement and above all the simultaneous attack of several finger joints.During the course of the disease, the inflammatory processes destroy the joint surfaces of the fingers, resulting in severe deformities and restrictions in finger mobility.

Gout

Swelling of the joints and lumps on the fingers can also occur in the context of gout disease. Gout is a metabolic disease that is accompanied by increased uric acid levels in the blood. Due to the existing excess of uric acid, it is deposited in the form of crystals in bones and joints.

The joints fight the uric acid that has penetrated and as a result, inflammatory processes develop in the affected joints and so-called gout attacks occur. An attack of gout in a finger joint manifests itself by massive swelling, as well as redness and overheating. The affected finger is also very sensitive to touch and strong, shooting pains develop.

If a gout attack subsides after one or two days, the swelling in the finger joint goes down again and the finger is painless again and no longer restricted in its mobility. A gout attack in the finger often occurs at night, after a sumptuous meal or heavy alcohol consumption. There can be a long period of time, sometimes several months, between individual attacks of gout.

However, if no treatment is given, chronic changes develop in the area of the affected finger joints. These show themselves as so-called gout nodules on the hand, as well as deformations of the finger joints. The therapy for gout starts with a healthy diet. A diet low in purine is recommended, since purines are metabolized in the human body to uric acid. In order to adjust the increased uric acid mirror in the long run, medicines are prescribed by the physician, which restrain the uric acid formation.