What are the causes of hand and finger joint pain in pregnancy?

Cause 1:  Relaxin and Progesterone

During pregnancy, your body produces a hormone called relaxin. This hormone helps prepare your pelvic muscles and tendons for pregnancy by stretching and relaxing them. Since this hormone travels freely all over your body, it can cause joint pain in other parts of your body, including your hands and fingers. Progesterone also loosens the joints.

Cause 2: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Pregnancy hormones can lead to water retention

Symptoms are pins and needles or tingling, numbness, pain, which may be worse at night, burning sensation in fingers, sharp pain in wrist that might even go up the arm to the shoulders.

Cause 3: Arthritis

In Arthritis, joints become inflamed. Take these steps:

• Taking frequent breaks from repetitive tasks.
• Wear a wrist splint.
• Do exercises to stretch and strengthen the muscles in the hand and arm.

Hot and Cold therapy: What to do and what not.

• Applying heat or ice to the affected area can help to reduce pain and inflammation. For heat, take a long, warm shower, use a moist heating pad to reduce discomfort overnight.
• Cold treatments help relieve joint pain, swelling, and inflammation. Wrap a gel ice pack or a bag of frozen vegetables in a towel and apply it to painful joints for quick relief. Never apply ice directly to the skin.

Yoga/mudra suggestions

A recent study showed that mindful meditation could boost immunity and reduce inflammation. A total of 51 participants took part in the study, 26 of whom completed an 8-week program of mindful meditation while the remaining 25 received no treatment.

Participants who practiced mindful meditation showed a reduction in arthritic symptoms, including pain, early morning stiffness, and the number of tender and swollen joints.

Dietary Changes

Let’s tackle inflammation first.

Reduce inflammation by consuming antioxidants:

• Amla (Indian Gooseberry)
• Bael Fruit (Amrit Fruit)
• Apricots (Khumani)
• Grapes
• Beetroot
• Spinach
• Cow’s ghee
• Microgreens
• Barley Flour
• Kidney beans (Rajma)

Grapple with Hormonal changes:

Foods rich in cellulose can help in strengthening the ligaments and alleviate the pain.

• Root and leafy vegetables, especially green beans
• Carrots
• Dals and pulses
• Pears and apples
• Avocados and berries

Add fluid/ moisture to the body:

Drink a minimum of 2.5-3 liters of water daily.

Add fluids that are rich in electrolytes like coconut water, lemonade, ginger ale, buttermilk can also be excellent additions to help improve the fluid intake in the body. Add Ghee to food.

Omega-3s:

Including foods rich in omega-3s in your diet and/or taking an omega-3 supplement for managing the stiffness.

Curcumin:

It is a component present in turmeric which is a powerful antioxidant.

Cruciferous vegetables:

Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli can help with joint pain as they have sulforaphane, an antioxidant that has the ability to prevent joint pains.

Ginger:

One of the most potent anti-inflammatory ingredients in the kitchen, a soothing ginger tea can be relaxing for the joints.

Collagen:

Collagen builds joint strength and there are some foods that can help increase the collagen production in the body. Vitamin C rich citrus fruits like orange, sweet lime, cashews, berries, tomatoes, green leafy vegetables are some foods that can improve collagen.

Ayurvedic remedies for relief of finger and hand joint pain

• Massage: With warm coconut or sesame or castor or garlic oil for 30 minutes helps to relieve the pain by reducing swelling and improving circulation. Garlic oil helps to relieve the stiffness and swelling of the joint. Massage lowers the body’s production of the stress hormone cortisol and the neurotransmitter substance which has an association with pain.
• Turmeric water: In one glass of lukewarm water, add a pinch of turmeric and 1 tsp of honey, mix well, and drink regularly for a week. With its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, turmeric helps to relieve the pain.
• Ginger: A paste of ginger, mixed with warm sesame oil can be applied over the joints for 20 minutes. It helps to soothe swelling and pain in the joints.
• Linseed:  Soak linseed in buttermilk overnight. Make the paste the next day, apply to the affected area. leave it for 20 minutes.
• Black gram: Make a fine paste with black gram and sesame oil and apply that paste on the joints.
• Use copper (tamba) vessels for cooking or storing drinking water in. Copper has an oligodynamic effect which simply means that it releases ions that have healthy effects. They have antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties.

If you wish to explore other oils/ointments for massage you can try Ashwagandha, Shallaki liniment, Myaxyl oil, Dhanwantaram taila and Bala taila.

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