The Dr. Arthritis Guide to Recognizing Juvenile Arthritis Symptoms

Arthritis, a disease characterized by stiff, swollen joints, is a condition that’s typically associated with ageing.

However, according to Arthritis.org, nearly 300,000 people below the age of 18 suffer from some form of joint disease. To put this into perspective, that’s one in every 250 children. Even so, the common symptoms of juvenile arthritis, such as joint swelling, stiffness, fever, and rashes, are easily overlooked. In most cases, parents discover their kids are suffering from it only after their child gets into an accident that prompts closer inspection of a joint.

Unfortunately, early diagnosis and treatment is critical to helping kids manage pain and reversing the damage the condition causes. Failure to do so could lead to lasting effects that include loss of mobility.

Recognizing the Symptoms

The good news is that arthritis in children is treatable.  But it starts by being able to recognize symptoms of the condition. These include—

• Stiffness in joints upon waking up in the morning.

• Limping caused by stiff joints.

• Reluctance to use and arm or leg leading to reduced activity levels.

• Persistent fever, greater than 1 week

• Swollen joints

• Obvious difficulty with fine motor activities.

• Most commonly knees and large joints affected compared to the small joints of the hands in adults

• Skin rash across the body

Treatment and Management

Once these symptoms have been identified, it’s important that parents seek medical help for the proper treatment of the condition.

As with adult arthritis, treatment is designed to preserve physical mobility and function. Typically, doctors will prescribe a combination of medical and alternative treatments that are meant to relieve pain, and identify as well as prevent complications.

For medication, non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs, and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs will typically be prescribed. In more extreme cases, corticosteroids will be used to manage severe symptoms and acute worsening of disease

Equally important are alternative treatments. Physical therapy, with the help of a specialist, will provide a regular exercise program that is a critical part of arthritis treatment, as it will help preserve muscle tone and range of motion in the joints.

Diets, supplements, and compression therapy all serve to alleviate symptoms as well and address symptoms to varying degrees.

Guidelines to Keep In Mind

Ultimately, juvenile arthritis isn’t a condition that affects just the individual diagnosed with it. The special challenges presented by the disease, which could make schoolwork more difficult and prevent kids from joining after-school activities, ultimately limits the quality of life of children. This means everyone in the family has to cope with the strain that the condition poses.

To that end, remember that it’s important to—

• Get the best medical care possible for your child and carefully follow the doctor’s instructions. Seek out a pediatric rheumatologist if available to manage your child’s condition.

• Read and learn about the condition and treatment. Keep open communication with your doctor, and learn about the treatment options available.

• Seek out other parents who share similar experiences through support groups. It might be a good way to learn from first hand experiences on how they are handling the challenges.

• Encourage exercise and activity as part of the child’s physical therapy despite their condition. Just make sure that these are activities that doctor recommends. To that end, try to treat your child as normally as possible and avoid coddling them too much.

• Work closely with your child’s school and help educators understand the limitations of your child given the disease.

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About Dr. Arthritis

We are a team of doctors and professionals, we are Doctor Arthritis. For the past years we have developed a series of copper infused products which help patients suffering from arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions improve their lifestyle. Our copper compression gloves and copper compression sleeves represent an efficient, non-invasive solution for relieving joint and muscular pain in the hands, elbows, knees, ankles, foot and calves.
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We, as doctors, have been working with patients for many years and have seen the impact these musculoskeletal conditions have on a person’s life, which is why our goal is to help as many as possible treat the symptoms in a way that doesn’t cause any other damage to the body. Developing these copper infused arthritis gloves and copper infused arthritis sleeves is our way to re-assure our patients and not only, that they have an ally fighting with joint and muscular pain in us. Alongside our joint compression products, each of our customers receives “The Dr. Arthritis Handbook” containing specific information on the condition and its varied types and also treatments and exercises for the joint and/or muscle affected by arthritis.
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We are confident that by using the right compression sleeves or compression gloves and by daily exercise and adequate treatment every person suffering from arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions will have an improved lifestyle and will be able to enjoy the smallest things in life, without having to worry about pain while performing daily tasks.
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Our copper infused compression gloves and copper infused compression sleeves have been developed with consideration and care towards our patients. We want each person to have a comfortable lifestyle and be able to enjoy life at its fullest. As doctors, helping patients have a good life is our passion and from this passion our professional, medical copper infused products have been created.