Fingers offer wide range of movements in daily life and it is difficult to imagine life without proper functioning of fingers. Hand is made of many bones, ligaments, tendons and muscles which helps in making flexible movements including writing, holding and lifting any object. The wrist is the meeting point of two main bones of forearm. One is the large sized bone located on the thumb side called radius and the other is small sized bone found on the opposite side called ulna. These two bones would meet the corpus at the point of wrist. Wrist is composed of many joints and ligaments wherein several bones of the hand and arm meet.
Finger joint is covered with cartilage layer which makes it possible for gliding smoothly during movement. These joints are made of fibrous capsule lined with synovium (a thin membrane) which secretes synovial fluid for giving lubrication to the joints. Whenever there is loss of fluid the joints develop swelling causing finger pain. Finger joint pain can cause symptoms like tenderness and stiffness, limited movements of finger and swelling of joints with intense pain. Various medical conditions like arthritis, osteoporosis, gout and lupus can affect the finger joint. Finger joints can be damaged by injury, trauma and nerve damage caused by prolonged diabetes. Finger joint pain can be diagnosed with suitable imaging tests. Treatment of finger joint includes medications, therapy, wearing of splints and strengthening exercises.
Symptoms :
Any form of arthritis can cause significant damage to fingers causing pain and stiffness of joints. Pain while moving fingers and stiffness are the first symptoms of finger joint inflammation. It causes intense pain while making certain movements with fingers. The symptoms will not be persistent and increases when doing certain activities. Some of the common signs of finger joint pain include tenderness of joints, stiffness, restricted movement, crackling sound in the joints and weakness. There can be considerable loss of muscle mass leading to muscle wasting due to osteoarthritis. Arthritis can attack any joint of the body but parts like knee joint, hip joint and finger joints are the most common. Some people may feel the pain in one finger but for others it can be felt on all the fingers.