Why is there a pain in hand?

Dr KK Pandey
Contd from previous issue
If hand has pain with discoloration of fingers too
This condition is prevalent in those people who are addicted to tobacco use or who have been smoking for many years. Tobacco has an element called Nicotine in it, that causes constriction of blood pipes which carry oxygen rich pure blood to hand. This narrowing of blood pipe will lead to decrease in supply of pure blood to hand. This results into pain in hand as well as discoloration of finger tips. If no proper measures are taken promptly, there will remain no other option except amputation of fingers.
One more reason of discoloration of fingers is the disease of vasculitis. In this disease, inflammation and swelling in the wall of blood pipes occur. This inflammation of wall narrows down lumen of blood pipe and thus flow of pure blood to hand is hampered, with the result, pain and tingling sensation start in hand and fingers and gradually fingers start turning black. This inflammatory condition of vasculitis is generally caused by autoimmune disease and disorders.
If hand has pain as well as ulcer
This problem occurs in those women who are very much emotional by nature and remain mentally distressed most of the time. This problem happens mostly in winters. What exactly happens is, due to excessive sensitivity to cold, supply of pure blood to fingers gets suddenly disturbed and finally almost stopped, that results into blue discoloration of fingers first, then colour changes into pale and then becomes red finally due to restoration of pure blood supply again. If this incidence of colour changing of fingers due to cold happens repeatedly, small ulcers in finger tips near nails start appearing. This disease is called Raynaud’s phenomenon. The symptoms of this disease mostly appear in winter season. Therefore, patients suffering from this disease should avoid exposure to cold.
If hand has pain and tingling sensation both
If your hand has pain and tingling sensation in some of the fingers, it could be due to a condition called cervical spondylitis. Sometimes along with this pain in hand, there is complaint of giddiness or vomiting also and generally people mistake these problem for either abdominal disease or brain disease. In cervical spondylitis, the enlarged spine bone in neck exerts pressure on nerves emerging from spine. This results into mild pain and tingling sensation in hand that generally persist during the day time. In the beginning, one can control this problem by doing specific neck exercises and reducing weight. If carelessness persists, this problem becomes permanent and always worrying the sufferers.  
If pain and tingling sensation confined to fingers only
The most important cause of this problem is the medical condition called “Carpel Tunnel Syndrome”. In this condition unnecessary and excessive pressure on a nerve (Median Nerve) is exerted inside the wrist that leads to pain and tingling in the fingers. If the wrist is bent forward, pain in fingers increases in intensity. Superers of this often have disturbed problem disturbs the sleep in the night time. If timely treatment of carpel tunnel syndrome is not undertaken, beside pain and tingling sensation, muscles of hand too slowly getting weakened progressively.
Some important investigations required
If you are suffering from pain in hand, some important investigations are required, like Chest X-ray, CT of neck and special test like NCV of hand. At the same time, special investigations of blood pipes of neck, arm and hand like arterial and venous Doppler study are also essentially desirable. Sometimes, CT angiography is also required. Besides these investigations, some specialized blood investigations, like RA factor, ANA, and Anti dsDNA are required. Above all some important special blood investigations to rule outany defect by birth in clotting mechanism of blood are also needed.
Where to go for this problem in hand
Always go to a centre where department of Vascular Surgery as well as Thoracic Surgery exist. Also ensure there is an availability of a full time Vascular surgeon in the hospital. At the same time there should be availability of modern investigations like angiography, CT, NCV and Doppler investigations. (To be contd)