Pain in the Fingers of the Hands

they are a rather widespread symptom, which can depend on both traumatic and non-traumatic causes.

Shutterstock Pain in the Fingers of the Hands

Among the traumatic causes of pain in the fingers, there are: fractures of the phalanges, bruises to the fingers, skin wounds on the fingers, stings and insect bites to the fingers, and nail diseases; among the causes non-traumatic pains in the fingers, on the other hand, stand out in particular: arthrosis of the hands, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, tendon cysts located on the fingers, multiple sclerosis, Dupuytren's disease, carpal tunnel and Raynaud's phenomenon.

Brief anatomical review of the fingers

The fingers of the hands represent the terminal extremities of the upper limbs.
In number of 5 for each hand, the fingers of the hands are anatomical elements that include: bones, joints, muscles, tendons, blood vessels, nerves and connective tissue.

Bone: they are the so-called phalanges;
Joints: are the metacarpo-phalanx joints (between the first phalanx and the previous metacarpus) and the interphalangeal joints (between two contiguous phalanges).
They are essential for the movements of the fingers;
Muscles and tendons: together with the joints, they play a pivotal role in the movements of the fingers of the hands;
Connective tissue: it is basically the skin that covers the fingers of the hands;
Nerves: they are used for the sensory and motor control of the fingers.
Blood vessels: they are used to transport blood to the bones, joints, muscles, tendons and skin tissues of the hands.

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An "alternation between strong painful pangs and moments of apparent recovery;

Comparable to pinpricks or small electric shocks.

In addition to influencing the connotations of finger pains, causal factors play a crucial role in another context: the location and number of affected fingers. It is, in fact, strictly dependent on the factors triggering the involvement of a specific finger, of a group of fingers or of all the fingers.

How common is it to suffer from finger pain?

Pain in the fingers are a very common symptom; in fact it is very rare to meet individuals who have never felt, at least once in their life, any painful suffering in the fingers of their hands.

to the fingers themselves or hands; more rarely, they are the result of non-traumatic medical conditions affecting the nerves, muscles, joints and / or bones of the fingers or, more generally, the human body.

Pain in the fingers: traumatic origin

Among the main traumatic causes of pain in the fingers of the hands, stand out:

Fractures of the phalanges.
They are usually the result of sports or work injuries.
Sports in which it is easy to develop pain in the fingers of the hands, due to a fracture of one or more phalanges, are rugby, volleyball, basketball and American football; as regards the work at risk, on the other hand, we point out all those heavy work activities, in which the use of the hands is fundamental (eg: construction workers, porters, warehouse workers, etc.).
Skin wounds affecting one or more fingers.
They are generally the result of cuts due to the improper use of a knife, scissors or some tool for so-called "do-it-yourself" jobs.
Bruises to one or more fingers of the hands.
To this item belong all those injuries to the fingers resulting from a violent event, which however is not such as to cause a bone fracture or interrupt the continuity of the skin tissues (i.e. cause a wound).
Examples of violent events that involve bruising one or more fingers of the hands are: the crushing of one or more fingers in a drawer or door, the violent impact of one or more fingers against an object and sports or work injuries of a lesser degree to the hands.

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Burns affecting one or more fingers.
These are injuries whose severity of consequences varies according to the degree and extent of the burn.
Finger burns are very common in the home.
Nail diseases.
Some examples of nail diseases related to finger pain are: onycholysis, onychocryptosis, onychodystrophy, onychophagy, paronychia, onychomycosis and onychogryphosis.
Stings and insect bites.
These traumatic events are responsible for inflammatory processes, sometimes combined with infectious processes, which trigger, as usual, a more or less intense painful sensation.

Pain in the fingers: non-traumatic origin

Non-traumatic conditions associated with finger pains include:

Osteoarthritis or arthrosis. It is the inflammation of the joints, which derives from the progressive degeneration of the articular cartilage.
Arthrosis causes pain in the fingers when it affects the metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints (see arthrosis of the hands).
Rheumatoid arthritis. It is the inflammation of the joint capsule of the movable joints, due to a malfunction of the immune system (rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease).
Like arthrosis of the hands, rheumatoid arthritis is responsible for pain in the fingers when it affects the metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints.

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Some muscular dystrophies. Muscular dystrophies are genetic diseases, the presence of which determines a weakening of the muscles, followed by a progressive disability.
The muscular dystrophies potentially responsible for finger pain are: Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Becker muscular dystrophy and Welander's distal myopathy.
Multiple sclerosis. It is a chronic and disabling disease, which arises as a result of a progressive degradation of myelin belonging to the neurons of the central nervous system.
In a context of multiple sclerosis, therefore, pains in the fingers of the hands are the result of a nervous problem.
Carpal tunnel syndrome. It is the set of symptoms and signs that arises following the compression of the median nerve at the wrist, exactly where the so-called transverse carpal ligament (carpal tunnel) is located.
In the fingers, carpal tunnel syndrome causes pain in the thumb, index finger, middle finger and part of the ring finger.
The formation of skin warts on the fingers of the hands. Cutaneous warts are benign, grayish-yellow, hemispherical or oval shaped growths of the skin that typically form on the back of the hands, around the nails and on the soles of the feet.
Tendon cysts or synovial cysts located on the fingers of the hands. Extremely variable in size, tendon cysts are swellings filled with liquids, whose typical site of formation is close to the tendons (to be precise, on the tendon sheaths) or mobile joints (to be exact, on the joint capsules).
Tendon cysts located on the fingers of the hands cause pain in the fingers, when they arise near a nerve end and cause it to be crushed.
De Quervain's syndrome or De Quervain's stenosing tenosynovitis. It is a painful condition following irritation of the synovial sheath, which envelops the tendons of the abductor long and extensor short muscles of the thumb.
In De Quervain syndrome, pain affects only the basal portion of the thumb.
Tumors based on the fingers of the hands. The association between tumors and pain in the fingers of the hands is very rare, because the formation of neoplasms starting from one of the bony or nerve structures constituting the extremities of the upper limbs is very rare.

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Raynaud's phenomenon. It is the particular vascular phenomenon, whereby, thanks to an excessive spasm of the peripheral blood vessels, there is a reduction in the flow of blood to: the fingers and toes, the tip of the nose, the earlobes and the tongue.
Pain in the fingers due to Raynaud's phenomenon can have a significant intensity, so much so as to be very annoying for those who suffer from it.
Dupuytren's contracture or Dupuytren's disease. It is a disease of the hand, which causes the permanent flexion (or curvature) of one or more fingers towards the so-called palm of the hand.
Dupuytren's disease can affect one or both hands and can affect any finger, including the thumb.
Diabetes mellitus. It is a widespread metabolic disease characterized by high blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia).
In the presence of diabetes mellitus, pain in the fingers of the hands characterize the most advanced pathological phases, when hyperglycemia has determined the deterioration of the peripheral nerves (diabetic neuropathy).

, these symptoms and signs vary in relation to the triggering condition; this means, for example, that pains in the fingers due to osteoarthritis are accompanied by symptoms other than those observed in the presence of pain in the fingers due to a burn.
Going into the details of the topic, among the symptoms and signs that most commonly are associated with the presence of pain in the fingers of the hands, there are:

Numbness and tingling.
Associated with finger pains in: diabetes mellitus, Dupuytren's disease, Raynaud's phenomenon, carpal tunnel syndrome and multiple sclerosis.
Difficulty grasping objects, writing, typing, etc.
Associated with finger pains in: Dupuytren's disease, arthrosis of the hands, rheumatoid arthritis, De Quervain's syndrome and muscular dystrophies.
Sense of joint stiffness.
Associated with finger pains in: arthrosis of the hands and rheumatoid arthritis.
Swelling.
Associated with finger pains in: fractures, bruises and stings or insect bites.
Presence of a hematoma.
Associated with finger pains in: fractures and bruises.
Bleeding.
Associated with finger pains in: skin lesions and burns.
Presence of vesicles.
Associated with finger pains in: burns.
Signs of infection.
Associated with finger pains in: skin wounds and burns.
Pain during finger movements.
Associated with finger pains in: arthrosis of the hands, tendon cysts, rheumatoid arthritis and De Quervain syndrome.
Muscle atrophy.
Associated with finger pains in: muscular dystrophies, arthrosis of the hands and rheumatoid arthritis.
Presence of lumps that are tender or hard to the touch.
Associated with finger pains in: tendon cysts and tumors.
Presence of Heberden's nodules.
Associated with finger pains in: arthrosis of the hands and rheumatoid arthritis.

When to see a doctor?

Pain in the fingers of the hands are a symptom that should concern and lead the person concerned to consult a doctor, when:

They have been in existence for several days;
Their intensity, instead of improving, continues to worsen;
They appeared for apparently inexplicable reasons;
They are associated with symptoms of a certain clinical significance (eg: difficulty in gripping objects, severe blood loss, presence of diabetes, etc.);
Despite the therapy, they continue to persist without a hint of diminishing in intensity.

Typically, finger bruises, finger cuts, first degree finger burns, and other similar circumstances of the same clinical significance produce transient finger pains that do not require consultation. doctor or specific therapy.

Complications

Any complications that may affect an individual with finger pain may be due to:

A serious cause (ex: tumors, third degree burns, fourth degree burns, etc.);
Failure to treat a triggering condition, the resolution of which requires specific therapy.

complete, a thorough physical examination and the patient's account of symptoms; therefore, based on the information that emerges from these first 3 assessments, it can continue with:

Blood tests;
Radiological examinations referred to the suffering hand and fingers (X-rays, nuclear magnetic resonance and / or CT scan);
L "electromyography;
A neurological visit.

Why is it important to discover the triggers?

Knowing what causes pain in the fingers of the hands is very important, because it allows you to plan the therapy through which it is possible to obtain healing (or, at least, an improvement in symptoms).

to relieve pain and physiotherapy once the callus has occurred.

If the pains in the fingers depend on diabetic neuropathy, the patient will benefit from all those treatments indicated in case of diabetes mellitus (appropriate diet, exercise, weight reduction, etc.).

If the pain in the fingers derives from bruises, the therapy is very simple and consists in the application of ice, in order to relieve the painful sensation.

If finger pains are related to onychomycosis, treatment involves administering a topical or systemic antifungal and paying particular attention to nail hygiene.
If the pains in the fingers depend on arthrosis in the hands, the treatment can vary from conservative to surgical, depending on the severity of the degeneration of the articular cartilage. of NSAIDs, physiotherapy and corticosteroid injections, while surgical treatments include arthrodesis, arthroplasty and osteotomy.