Juvenile Arthritis: Even Children Can Develop Arthritis

Juvenile arthritis is known by several names including childhood arthritis and juvenile chronic arthritis as too juvenile idiopathic arthritis and there are in fact another five sub-types that vary according to symptoms. At one time juvenile arthritis was called juvenile rheumatoid arthritis but the term rheumatoid was removed since it gave the wrong impression that this condition is related to rheumatoid arthritis that affects adults.

Different To Adult Arthritis

Though most people consider arthritis to be a disease that affects seniors the most there are numerous instances of juvenile arthritis as well that affect babies as too young children. In fact, today there are about three hundred thousand young children in the United States that are suffering from juvenile arthritis. In spite of such huge numbers of arthritis in children, doctors are not clear about why such a condition develops though it is more than clear that juvenile arthritis is different to adult arthritis in two major ways: children affected by arthritis can outgrow the condition as they grow older and it is harder to diagnose juvenile arthritis than is the case with adult arthritis.

Juvenile arthritis is a chronic ailment that results in inflammation in one or even more joints and the condition normally affects children by the time they have reached sixteen years of age. Of course, children that are affected by arthritis can also experience the same problems as are noticeable in adult arthritis.

The exact cause of juvenile arthritis is as yet unknown though it is believed to be a condition that is an autoimmune one. The symptoms of juvenile arthritis are joint swelling that occurs persistently, pain as well as stiffness that becomes worse in the morning or after taking a nap. The pain felt can limit the patient’s range of movement in their affected joints though normally children do not complain about pain.

The diagnosis of juvenile arthritis requires extensive observations of signs of limping and also stiffness upon waking up from sleep and when the child also shows reluctance to use a particular limb it can lead the doctor to suspect that it is an arthritis problem. The person best suited to treat juvenile arthritis is a pediatrician or a family doctor or any other primary care medical professional.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is a very common form of arthritis that is persistent and which affects children. The term idiopathic means a condition for which the cause is not known while juvenile generally refers to anyone that has not attained the age of sixteen. Also, this form of arthritis is very different to the kind of arthritis that affects adults.