Dr Ortho Blog

Arthritis is a major disease affects not only aged people but also teenagers and kids. It is a disease that causes swelling, stiffness, and pain in person’s joint. Joint is an area where two bones meet and allow our body to move – the knees, hips, ankles, shoulders, and elbows. If you are suffering from this major joint disease you may find difficult to perform your daily tasks.

Arthritis in kids is known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis or JIA. Another name for it is juvenile rheumatoid arthritis or JRA. This form of the joint issue is different from that occurs in old age people.

Why Do Kids Suffer From It?

No one actually knows the real reason for JA.Something in the environment, like a virus, may trigger the disease in kids. It can happen because the genes in their body make them suffer from it.  Children get genes from their parents and these genes decide everything from the color of person’s eyes to disease from which he or she may suffer in future. Importantly JIA is not contagious, so you can’t catch it from someone else.

Arthritis is considered as an autoimmune disease. It means a person’s immune system makes a mistake and attacks the body’s own tissues or organs. However, a child’s immune system sends out white blood cells to protect the body to fight outside invaders like bacteria and viruses. With this disease, the immune system makes a mistake and attacks healthy cells.

Instead of recognizing the healthy cells, the immune system destroys the healthy cells. In this process, chemicals are released by the immune system that cause swelling and pain in joint.

Common Symptoms of JA

Here are the common symptoms of juvenile arthritis that you must know to take care of your child.

Pain :

Kids can complain about the joint pain specifically after full day activities. But a child with juvenile arthritis can feel pain right after he/she wakes in the morning. Your child can feel severe pain knees, hands, feet, and neck. Pain may lessen as the kid starts moving for the day.  If you are thinking about painkiller to combat issues, your kid can’t get relief.

JA-related pain may develop slowly, and in joints on both sides of the body rather than one single joint.

Stiffness :

A child with JA may have stiff joints, specifically in the early morning as earlier mentioned. Your kid may hold his arm or leg in the same position. A very small kid may struggle to perform simple movements such as holding a spoon. Stiffness may be worse right after your child wakes up and improve as he/she starts moving.

Swelling :

Swelling and redness on the skin around the joint is a major sign of arthritis. Your child joint may feel warm when you touch. Swelling may stay for the long duration, or come and go, and may affect hands, feet, and knees.

This is a strong symptom that your kid is going through something serious.

Fever :

Children commonly suffer from the fever because of ordinary infectious diseases like the flu. However, a child with JA may have a frequent fever accompanied by fatigue.

Fever due to arthritis can come suddenly and then diminish after a short period.

Rashes :

Many forms of JIA can cause rashes on the skin. These rashes may not be itchy but it can make your child suffer for a long time. You can see red or pink colour rashes across the cheeks, bridge of the nose, arms, and legs.

This is a common signal of serious rheumatic disease.

Weight Loss :

Children with this disease may seem fatigued. They also start losing weight and do not take their meal properly. They lose the interest in their food due to which their body gets weak.

Eye Problems :

Eyes infection or redness in eyes is another sign of JIA. Moreover, pain and blurred vision may be a sign of something more serious. Some other forms of juvenile arthritis can cause serious eyes issues such as iritis or inflammation of the iris.

So, if you find any such symptoms in your child, you must take a right decision to fight the solution. Consulting doctor at the very early stage of JIA is the right thing to do. Besides this, you can also use an ayurvedic pain relief formula like Dr. Ortho – made of 8 natural herbs. Dr. Ortho oil is completely ayurvedic and famous among people as an Instant Pain Relief Oil .

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