Sore hands from wrist to elbow: causes, treatment

Doctors often have to deal with patients' complaints that they have pain from the wrist to the elbow. And to doctors with such a problem, not only those whose professional activities involve physical stress on the hands, but also those who "work head".

The general picture of the disease

Most often there are pains in the hands of a one-sided nature. This means that only the left or right arm can hurt. Often the pain covers the whole arm, but there is also a localization in one place, for example, only from the inside. This is due to the fact that one of the structural elements of the bone was affected.

The nature of the pain is also different. This phenomenon can be temporary, but if the hands are constantly hurt from the wrist to the elbow, this indicates possible serious violations. In this case it is necessary to pass the diagnosis and seek professional help.

Causes of pain in the arm

If the bone of the hand hurts from the wrist to the elbow, the first thing to do is to determine the cause of the problem. Only after this can we talk about treatment. The causes of such a problem can be common, such as fatigue or trauma, or more serious, which indicate abnormalities in the work of internal organs. First, we will determine the general reasons:

1. Professional load. A fairly common phenomenon is when the arm from the elbow to the wrist hurts when it is loaded on it. This condition occurs due to functional disorders. Some professions lead to the fact that the muscles on the arm are constantly strained, and because there is no possibility to leave work for a long period, there is no time for a full rest. As a result, carpal tunnel syndrome develops . This is a fairly common disease to date, and it affects representatives of modern professions: programmers, cashiers, dispatchers, artists, pianists. The fact is that these professions assume uniform movements of the brush, as a result of which the load is only for a certain group of muscles. Tendons in this place become inflamed, swell and squeeze the nerve endings that pass in the radiocarpal canal. In this case, the arm hurts from the elbow to the wrist from the inside. Such inflammation can also appear as a result of micro-traumas, which can disrupt blood circulation and even lead to the gradual destruction of tissue. This problem affects people whose work is associated with heavy physical exertion, mostly falling into the hands.
2. Exercising , in addition to an obvious positive effect, can cause the hands to hurt from the wrist to the elbow. Here the whole point is that as a result of constant training the muscles are in a strained state. It is dangerous because it threatens the appearance of inflammation, while the muscles become denser. There are so-called tendinitis. Thus, during movement, the nerve endings will be pinched, causing pain in their hands.
3. Injuries . This is a very obvious reason that your hands hurt from the wrist to the elbow. Trauma can result from any mechanical damage, be it beats or falls. The nature of such pain is understandable. It will appear sharply, besides the tissues that surround the damaged bone, can become inflamed or swell.

What diseases lead to the problem

The causes of pain in the hand can be not only mechanical injuries or features of professional activity, but also diseases of internal organs or systems, which people sometimes do not even guess. Most often it can be:

1. Diseases of the joints. These include arthritis or osteoarthritis. These diseases can cause severe pain in the joints of the elbow and wrist. The affected area may turn red or even swell. In this case, the movements of the sick arm will have to be severely limited.
2. Neurological disorders. In this case, the primary cause is disruption of the peripheral nervous system. As a result, the muscles of the arms atrophy, paralysis may develop. However, the symptoms of the disease develop rather slowly. First a person feels pain and weakness of the hands, it is difficult for him to do even everyday things.
3. Diseases of the spine. This is, first of all, an osteochondrosis that can cause pain in the arm from the shoulder to the wrist.

As evidenced by pain in the left hand

As already mentioned, pain in the hands is often one-sided. The right hand often hurts because of a person's professional activity. But why does the left arm hurt from the elbow to the wrist? The reasons can be a lot, ranging from education in the cervical section of the intervertebral hernia and ending with an acute attack of a heart attack. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish signs. In addition to the common causes for both hands, the pain in the left can also indicate the diseases of some internal organs, in particular the heart and lungs.

Diagnostics

Diagnosis of pain in the hands is not particularly difficult for modern medicine. First of all, it is necessary to check whether this problem is connected with a dangerous state for life. These include heart disease, trauma, and intervertebral hernia. For this it is necessary to conduct:

• Radiography of the spine;
• X-ray of the diseased limb and the humerus zone;
• Computer scanning of problem departments;
• Nuclear magnetic resonance scanning.

In addition, clinical research methods should be prescribed. With their help, you can determine whether the body has autoimmune processes, as well as possible pathologies caused by various infections.

How to reduce pain at home

What can I do if my arm hurts from the elbow to the wrist? The treatment here will depend entirely on the results of the diagnosis, but you can try to alleviate the condition at home.

1. If the pain is caused by the fact that the muscles are in constant tension, you need to let them relax every 15-20 minutes. To do this, it is enough to restructure your schedule. In addition, in the workplace, you can perform special exercises that will not only relax the muscles, but also strengthen them.
2. If the cause of the pain in the hand is trauma, it is necessary to immobilize the injured limb. The hand should remain fixed in the position in which you do not experience pain. It is advisable to remain in this position until the doctor comes.
3. A bit of relief will help a cold compress. It will help to remove the swelling and inflammation.

Any other types of treatment can be carried out only on the advice of a doctor and under his supervision. The fact is that there are a lot of reasons for the pain in the hand. Trying to get rid of painful sensations, you can cause serious damage to health.

Which doctors should I contact

Faced with the problem of the appearance of pain in the hands, not everyone knows which doctors should be treated. You can help:

• traumatologist;
• rheumatologist;
• The neuropathologist;
• neurologist;
• cardiologist.

The most correct strategy in choosing a therapy is to eliminate the cause of the appearance of pain. However, with severe pain, doctors can also prescribe symptomatic treatment.