Types of Juvenile Arthritis | Arthritis Information

Polyarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) - or juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) - typically affects five or more joints and:
- affects girls more frequently than boys
- most commonly affects knees, wrists and ankles
- can affect weight-bearing and other joints, including hips, neck, shoulders and jaw
- often affects the same joint on both sides of the body
Pauciarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) - or juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) - affects typically four or fewer joints and:
- usually affects the large joints: knees, ankles or wrists
- often affects a joint on one side of the body only, particularly the knee
- may cause eye inflammation (uveitis) which is seen most frequently in young
  girls with positive anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA)
Systemic onset juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) - or juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) - can:
- affect boys and girls equally
- cause high, spiking fevers of 103 degrees or higher, lasting for weeks or even months
- cause a rash consisting of pale, red spots on the child’s chest, thighs and sometimes other parts of the body
- cause arthritis in the small joints of the hands, wrists, knees and ankles

bumpDoctors don't really know what causes the disease. But there are a number of things that they think can lead to it. These things include:

An immune system that is too active and attacks joint tissues.
Viruses or other infections that cause the immune system to attack joint tissues.
Having certain genes that make the immune system more likely to attack joint tissues.

Children can have one or many symptoms, such as:

Joint pain.
Joint swelling.
Joint stiffness.
Trouble sleeping.
Problems walking.

In some cases these symptoms can be mild and hard for you to see. A young child may be more cranky than normal or may go back to crawling after he or she has started walking. You may notice that your child feels stiff in the morning or has trouble walking.

Children with this disease can also get inflammatory eye disease. This can lead to permanent vision problems or blindness if it’s not treated. Eye disease often has no symptoms before vision loss occurs. That’s why it’s important for your child to have regular eye exams with an ophthalmologist. Treatment can begin before your child has long-lasting vision problems.

Your child’s treatment will be based on the type of arthritis he or she has and how serious it is. The most common treatment includes medicines to reduce pain and swelling (NSAIDs), along with physical therapy. Your child may also get shots of steroid medicine into a joint to relieve swelling and pain.

If these treatments don't help, then your child may be given other medicines. Surgery to correct joint problems is only done in rare cases.

http://www.arthritisjointpaingone.com