About Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis Toe Pain

Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA) is a rare disease that affects children under the age of 16. About 50 to 100 children in every 100,000 have the disease. The disease is treatable and usually goes into remission at puberty. Doctors are not sure what causes the disease.

Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis is a disease of the joints and muscles. It causes painful swelling of joints making them stiff and sometimes immobile. One of the first signs of JRA may be soreness in the toe joint. JRA can also present itself in other joints such as knees, hands or elbows. There is a form of JRA call systemic JRA which effects the entire body.

If the pain is bad, the doctor may prescribe an anti-inflammatory to help control the pain. There is also an anti-malaria drug that seems to lessen the symptoms of JRA. Children with JRA may be less active than other children. Their joints may hurt too much to move and parents will want to take care not to inflict injury by subjecting them to rigorous activity.

Sufferers of JRA often experience remission of the disease once they hit puberty. No one is quite sure what brings on JRA nor why it disappears so suddenly. Due to the fact that JRA typically goes into remission, doctors are very hesitant to perform surgery to control the pain. The patient will be monitored with medication to ensure the symptoms are not becoming worse. JRA is a rare disease and there is still not much known about it.