Common Signs And Symptoms Of Arthritis In Children

Arthritis can affect people of any age and not just the elderly, including children. The disease that causes inflammation in joints can interrupt the daily activities of kids diagnosed with it and they may face difficulties in walking, dressing, and playing. The types of arthritis that affect children less than sixteen years of age are referred to as childhood arthritis or juvenile arthritis.

Your child may or may not complain of joint pain but if you spot swelling in the knee or stiffness in other joints right after the kid wakes up in the morning or after a nap and he/she visibly limps, it could be a sign of arthritis. Symptoms may vary in children over course of time. Common signs and symptoms are joint pain, swelling, stiffness of joints, fever, and body rash. These symptoms may be severe enough to affect your daily living activities like walking, dressing, and playing. Sometimes it can also involve other body organs like eyes, skin, muscles, and bowel.

Causes of childhood arthritis

Childhood Arthritis can be caused by both infection and non-infectious reasons.
JIA (Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis) is an autoimmune disease. In JIA, our body’s immune system creates inflammation in our own joints leading to joint swelling and inflammation. A combination of genetic and environmental triggers is suspected to play a role in it. Another type of arthritis that is seen in developing countries like India is Bacterial Septic Arthritis.

Can childhood arthritis be treated?

Treatment depends on the underlying cause of arthritis.

In JIA, various types of medications are available for treatment. Some control disease activity (like corticosteroids & DMARDs) and some are used to relieve symptoms (like NSAIDs).

Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) may be recommended by a doctor when NSAIDs alone fail to mitigate joint pain and swelling or if there is a great risk of damage in the future. To slow the progress of juvenile idiopathic arthritis, DMARDs may be advised in combination with NSAIDs.

Another treatment option may be physical therapy which can help keep joints flexible and maintain range of motion and muscle tone. In very severe cases, surgery may be required to improve joint function.

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