Arthritis Treatment Guide

Please rate this article

(1 votes - 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is actually the most common type of arthritis to affect children, JRA as it’s also known may be fairly minor and cause little problems, or it can be much more apparent. In the most severe of cases JRA can cause sufferers severe complications over an extended period of time.

The symptoms of JRA are different for each child. It could begin with a swollen joint, for example an inflamed knuckle, a fever or a rash.

Arthritis is often associated with old people, especially rheumatoid arthritis and so many parents may be confused when they hear arthritis mentioned in the same sentence as their child. Arthritis is any inflammation of the joints; the symptoms are usually swelling and pain.

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis usually strikes between the ages of 6 months and 16 years old, nobody has an explanation of what actually causes JRA, but the body’s immune system actually turns on itself and starts attacking its own tissue. JRA is categorised as an autoimmune disease for this reason.

There are three main types of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis Polyarticular arthritis, pauciarticular arthritis, and Systemic arthritis.

Polyarticular arthritis affects five or more joints. This type actually affects more girls than boys, suggesting a link between this type of JRA and gender. Rheumatoid nodules may develop under the skin on bony areas, for example the elbows.

Pauciarticular JRA affects four or fewer joints, the main symptoms are pain, swelling, and stiffness of the affected joints. The most commonly affected joints with this type of JRA are the knee and wrist. An inflammation of the iris in the eye may also develop, this can occur without any joint inflammation, but it should be easy for an optician to spot this before it becomes a problem.

Systemic JRA, which is also sometimes referred to as systemic onset JRA affects at least one joint but also affects other organs in the body. Systemic JRA can affect the whole body, high fevers that increase in the evenings are common symptoms of systemic JRA. The internal organs may swell, and eventually if left untreated many of the body’s joints will be affected by swelling and pain.

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis can be treated with a combination of medication, physiotherapy and exercise. Currently curing JRA is not possible since there are no known cures.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!