All About Juvenile Arthritis

When someone mentions the word arthritis, what typically comes to a person’s mind is images of a person of advanced years with semi-crippled fingers or complaining of pain in knees, shoulders or neck. It isn’t something that a person considers a childhood disease. Yet, it can be.

For kids under the age of eighteen years, the early development of arthritis is referred to as juvenile arthritis and it currently affects more than two hundred- ninety thousand children. In fact, arthritis is so common in kids that juvenile arthritis is one of the most common childhood conditions.

The pain associated with this condition is not pleasant and difficult to treat, which is explanation for the fact that over eight hundred thousand ambulance calls or for the purpose of transporting a child with pediatric arthritis or rheumatologic issues. In addition to the discomfort, patients will often complain about swelling, stiffness of the joints, limited range of motion. It can lead to joint contracture (locking of the joints), cartilage damage, and even altered growth of bones and joints.

There are three types of juvenile arthritis including Polyarticular, Pauciarticular, and Systemic Onset. Each can be a version of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) or juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Polyarticular is more common in young females, hits the knees, wrists, and ankles most significantly, and typically mirrors itself. So, if the problem is found in the knee and wrist on one side of the body, then it will very likely be found in the other pair as well. Pauciarticular affects the same joints, but one a single side of the body, while Systemic Onset affects both gender equally, causes high, long lasting fever spikes as well as a rash. The pain and discomfort is most common in hands, wrists, knees and ankles.