What your joints need

Juvenile arthritis also known as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis refers to several different conditions that affect children. All these conditions have immune-mediated joint inflammation as their major symptom. This disease refers to chronic arthritic conditions that affect children aged 16 and below. These arthritic conditions normally last for a minimum of three to six months.

Heredity has been linked as a probable cause of this disease. This is because the condition has often been reported in multiple members of the same family. Some people consider this condition as an autoimmune disorder. Autoimmune disorder occurs when the immune system mistakenly identifies the body’s own tissue as foreign and goes ahead to attack it.

There are various subtypes of juvenile arthritis. The symptoms normally depend on the particular subtype. Pauciarticular is a subtype that usually affects the knees, the ankle, the wrist and the elbow. Some children with this subtype may experience painless swelling of the joint. Polyarticular is another subtype that affects five or more joints simultaneously. It is common in children up to age three or after the age of 10.This subtype usually affects more girls than boys.

Systematic onset or still disease is a subtype whose diagnosis is usually made between the ages of 5 to 10 years. This form equally affects both boys and girls. Spondyloarthropathy is a subtype that commonly affects boys older than eight years of age. In these cases, the areas affected are the knees and the ankles. It may also affect the hips and the lower spine. Psoriatic is a subtype that mostly affects the hips, the back, the fingers and the toes. Juvenile arthritis can be treated using medications, physical therapy and exercise.