What causes stiffness in the joints, particularly of hands? Our guide explains the causes of joint stiffness, how to treat them and when you should see a doctor.
Find more health guides, tips and advice
If the fingers cannot be moved, everyday life is severely restricted. Sometimes this can be caused by overloading the hands. But when should you go to the doctor and what are the chances of recovery?
If the fingers feel painfully stiff, especially in the morning, this can be an indication of inflammatory joint rheumatism.
The hand is a fine construction of 27 bones and 36 joints, moved by muscles and tendons, controlled by nerves. Unfortunately, however, it is also susceptible – injuries, premature wear and tear, inflammation or nerve diseases can severely limit its mobility.
What causes stiffness in the joints
Women suffer from it more often than men
Minor hand accidents, genetic predispositions, one-sided manual activities – all of these can lead to premature wear of the joints of the fingers and the wrist. Generally more women are affected than men. The fingers feel stiff and can sometimes only be moved with pain. Sometimes swelling occurs and it is difficult for those affected to close their fists.
Possible cause: overloading of the tendons
Other disorders of the mobility of the hand have to do with the “pulling apparatus” of the fingers, i.e. with the tendons. Overloading causes these tendons or the tendon sheaths they run through to swell and the tendons can no longer slide smoothly.
Tissue swelling can also put pressure on nerves – as in the case of carpal tunnel syndrome, which begins with paresthesia and pain and subsequently leads to difficulties in grasping, for example. Sometimes the problem starts higher up – for example, when there is a constriction where supplying nerves branch off from the spinal cord.
Risk of diabetes
In general, diabetics are more often affected by many mobility problems of the hands. Cheiropathy is a typical secondary disease of diabetes that rarely affects healthy people. The connective tissue of the hand hardens and thickens. The fingers – usually the little finger first – can no longer be stretched properly.
Dupuytren’s disease is a disease that is also particularly common in diabetics. The connective tissue is also affected here. Little or ring fingers are permanently curved and difficult to straighten again. In Dupuytren’s disease, the triangular plate of tissue grows inward in the palm of the hand. This creates nodules around the flexor tendons in the hand. Because they are no longer elastic as a result, the fingers bend. Removing the connective tissue plate in your hand can help. This does not always permanently solve the problem – the disease can come back.
Stiff hands in the morning – a sign of rheumatism?
If the fingers feel painfully stiff, especially in the morning, and mobility increases again during the day, this can be an indication of rheumatoid arthritis, i.e. inflammatory joint rheumatism. Many people are afraid of it – until a few years ago, the progress of the disease could hardly be stopped. Rheumatologists repeatedly saw patients with severely deformed, barely mobile fingers and severely altered other joints in the body. But that has changed radically.
Help with medication
The drug options are much higher today. The goal is freedom from symptoms, and in addition to so-called biologics – drugs that prevent inflammatory messenger substances from docking on the cells – Janus kinase inhibitors have now appeared. These are active ingredients that intervene in signaling pathways within our cells.
If these pathways are blocked, certain inflammatory messenger substances do not even develop in the joint. Another advantage: These drugs, known for short as JAK inhibitors, no longer have to be injected, they are administered as tablets.
