Arthritis Awareness Month Topic: Growing Pains or Something Else?
You might think you know what the word arthritis encompasses: pain in the joints of an older person. But the reality is that there are more than 100 different types of arthritis, and they don’t discriminate by race, sex or age.
Unfortunately, about 300,000 children and teens live with the swelling, joint pain, stiffness and decreased range of motion that comes with childhood arthritis, otherwise known as Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). In fact, there are nine different types of JIA, and only about 10 percent of children have the kind of arthritis that mirrors rheumatoid arthritis in adults.
What was often brushed off as mere “growing pains” is now taken more seriously as we know so much more about the onset of this disease. Continue reading