Primary care

Musculoskeletal problems

What is the musculoskeletal system? 

Your body's musculoskeletal system includes all the structures that ensure you can stand upright and move around. This includes the bones, joints, ligaments and tendons as well as the muscle and fascia system. 


What are the possible causes of musculoskeletal complaints?

Complaints of the musculoskeletal system can have very different causes:

Back pain

Apart from specific diseases or injuries, most people suffer from rather unspecific symptoms. It is often incorrect posture or the wrong kind of strain that causes the typical symptoms in the back. In most cases, you don't need to worry because back pain usually disappears after a few days, at the latest after two weeks.

However, back pain in particular can recur again and again. The pain is not limited to one age group. It also occurs in young people and can increase with age. The 30 to 50 age group has to deal with pain attacks particularly often. The proportion of women suffering from back pain is significantly higher than that of men of the same age in every age group. Especially in the case of chronic back pain, women are affected much more frequently.

Joint pain 

Is it arthrosis, rheumatism or perhaps gout? Or maybe it's just bursitis? Joint pain can have many different causes and occurs in different locations. It can affect only one joint or several joints, only small joints (such as on the fingers) or large joints (such as the hip joint). They can occur acutely or chronically. Sometimes they only occur at rest (rest pain) or at night (night pain).

Overall, joint pain is a common occurrence, it is estimated that almost half of all people suffer from joint pain after the age of 45. If you have limited mobility of the painful joint, fever, reddened skin over the painful joint or a severely swollen joint, a visit to our clinic is definitely recommended. 

Muscle pain 

You have around 650 muscles distributed throughout your body that perform a wide variety of functions. If these are overused, muscle pain develops. Sport is also a common cause of muscle pain. It can be harmless muscle soreness or strains or bruises as a result of sports accidents. This type of pain subsides relatively quickly. However, if muscle pain occurs without a tension or sports injury, the cause can also be an illness.

Statics and postural defects

The "spine" system has a dynamic design to react flexibly to movement and vibration. Its normal construction has four curvatures when viewed from the side. Even slight deviations from your normal statics can have serious consequences and trigger complaints. 

One major cause of postural defects is incorrect posture. If you have done hard physical work for years or sit for hours, for example at work, this promotes bad posture. Your spine and the associated muscles are permanently loaded on one side. This sometimes leads to a relieving posture and your muscles become tense.

In the long run, this can throw the entire muscular support of the spine out of balance: strong muscle bundles form at tense points, while the muscle mass on the opposite side continues to decrease. This strengthens and aggravates the bad posture, and the result is postural damage that can no longer be compensated for.

Arthrosis

Pain and grinding are typical signs of joint wear, also called arthrosis. When the symptoms become more severe, they can severely limit your mobility. Osteoarthritis can develop in any joint, but most often in the knee, hip or spine. Joint wear and tear usually affects older people. Sometimes arthrosis develops in middle age. If the symptoms are severe and chronic, joint replacement may be necessary.

Rheumatism

The term rheumatism covers many different diseases of the musculoskeletal system together, which are often associated with pain and restricted movement. The entire musculoskeletal system, but also internal organs or the entire body can be affected. The exact cause of inflammatory rheumatic diseases is usually unknown. Rheumatism can occur at any age. 

Gout

Gout usually develops over several years. The phase in which an elevated uric acid level develops in the blood but without symptoms is called "asymptomatic hyperuricemia". Over time, sharp-edged uric acid crystals can be deposited in the joints and kidneys and cause inflammation.

Osteoporosis

In osteoporosis, the mass, quality and strength of bones are reduced and their fragility is increased. Osteoporosis can occur in both women and men of any age, but its incidence increases in older people. Osteoporosis is a gradual disease and usually only causes symptoms in advanced stages. The first signs can be a decrease in height or back pain. 

What can I do for musculoskeletal complaints?

If you have frequent musculoskeletal complaints, it makes sense to see a doctor. Make an appointment directly at one of our Avi Medical practices. With the help of a detailed anamnesis discussion and a physical examination, we will look for the cause together and work out an individual therapy together.