About Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis Toe Pain

Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, or JRA, occurs in children younger than 16. The precise cause of the disease remains unknown, but thousands of children worldwide are affected. Those suffering from JRA, like adult rheumatoid arthritis patients, experience painful, swollen and stiff joints and sometimes a reduced range of motion.

Occurrence Rate of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis

• JRA is not a common disease, occurring in 50 to 100 children out of every 100,000.

Types of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis

• Systemic JRA pervades the child's body, inducing swollen, painful joints, fevers and rashes. Nearly 10 percent of kids diagnosed with JRA have systemic JRA.

  More children with JRA experience polyarticular JRA, about 40 percent. Polyarticular JRA causes swelling and pain in several joints, but the condition does not affect the entire body.

  The majority of children who suffer from JRA, about 50 percent, endure pauciarticular JRA. This type of JRA only affects a few joints, usually fewer than four.

Toe Pain

• Joint pain, including toe pain, is often among the first symptoms experienced.

Treatments of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis

• In addition to physical therapy and exercise regimens, a child's doctor may prescribe medication to help manage the pain of JRA. Doctors commonly prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that help reduce swelling in the joints.

  Another medication commonly prescribed is hydroxychloroquine. This anti-malaria drug also helps to minimize JRA-related inflammation.

  In severe cases, doctors may prescribe disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) that prevent high levels of inflammation-inducing proteins from entering the bloodstream.

Prognosis of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis

• JRA symptoms often go into remission, and sufferers show few, if any, signs of the disease. Typically, remission occurs when the child enters puberty and often remains in effect for the remainder of his or her life, leaving little indication that the child ever suffered from JRA.