Child Joint Pain

Joint pain has a variety of causes. The pain can be so intense that it becomes debilitating for the person. It is especially difficult for children to deal with joint pain. Often, children are not able to articulate what is causing the pain.

Prevalence

• According to Laura E. Shanberg, M.D., of Duke University, 5 to 30 percent of children complain of chronic joint pain, and it is more common in older children and girls.

Causes

• According to Dr. Shanberg, the causes can be overuse, trauma, growing pains and normal growth of the skeleton. Pain can also be attributed to more serious causes such as endocrine abnormalities, inflammatory diseases in the joints or muscles and malignancies.

Symptoms

• According to Dr. Shanberg, joint pain symptoms may include failure to thrive, weight loss, fever, fatigue, limping, decreased joint movement and severe pain that awakens the child in the middle of the night.

Duration

• According to Dr. Shanberg, benign joint pain in children can last anywhere from several months to many years.

Misconceptions

• Most people think that only elderly people are diagnosed with arthritis. This is a misconception, as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that causes joint pain in children.