Jul
Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month
Arthritis can test the patience and limits of even the best of adults but when children are stricken with this autoimmune disease it feels as if nature has played a cruel joke on the youngest among us.
A large percentage of these children live with the silent pain of JA for years until they are finally diagnosed.
With July being Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month, steps are being taken to heighten the attention given to this otherwise quiet disease.
The Childhood Arthritis & Rheumatology Research Alliance is a nationally recognized group of pediatric rheumatologists specializing in these types of childhood arthritis cases.
This group puts their collective heads together and researches different approaches to the illness and tries to answer crucial clinical questions through their combined effort.
Currently CARRA is working on a blind study of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis also known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis where 5 or more joints are affected although there are some forms that encompass 4 or less joints in order to decide whether or not early aggressive therapy that may work in adult rheumatoid arthritis cases can transfer over to treating the same disease in children.
The biggest myth surrounding arthritis is that it is an “old persons” disease. The statistics speak for themselves when most of the cases documented in America account for people under the age of 60 contrary to popular opinion, I think it’s safe to say “arthritic” and “old” aren’t interchangeable anymore. With symptoms ranging from joint pain, swelling, stiffness, and limited range of motion to joint cartilage and bone damage due to deformities occurring in the joints, arthritis would not be fun to have at any age, but especially not the age of hopscotch and jump rope; climbing trees and swimming laps playing tag and riding bikes.
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