Health and Fitness Oasis

 The prefix “arth” refers to joints and ‘itis’ refers to inflammation.  The term “arthritis” is a generic term meaning painful joints.  Are there different types of this condition? – true and false. 

Although different types are common in adults who reach that ‘certain age’ it also affects children still in diapers and young people in the prime of their lives.  Over 100 different types  range from the relatively mild cases of tendonitis or bursitis to crippling systemic forms such as rheumatoid or Lupus.

Types of arthritis can include disease processes that you wouldn’t normally associate with arthritis such as Lupus and gout.  In Lupus the immune system attacks healthy tissue and causes inflammation, including joints. 

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Juvenile arthritis was previously called Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA) and was described in children 16 and under. In the last 10 years the word “rheumatoid” was dropped from the name because it gave people the idea that the disease process is the same as the adult form of rheumatoid arthritis. Which it is not.
Juvenile arthritis has several other names such as juvenile idiopathic arthritis, juvenile chronic Arthritis and childhood arthritis. Actually, juvenile arthritis is a combination of 3 different diseases that are arthritic in their nature.

This disease condition will affect one in every 1000 children in the United States. Children suffer from pain, stiffness and swelling that will last longer than six weeks and is not caused by an injury or any other illness. Although the arthritis will initially present itself after an injury researchers have found that these are not the causes, only a trigger.

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There are over 100 different forms of arthritis.  Due to the variety and different ways in which the disease presents itself, there are conclusive tests to determine that an individual suffers from arthritis.  Arthritic conditions can affect the joints, bones, soft tissue and organ systems depending upon which condition is present.  When doctors piece together a diagnoses, they may use blood tests, imaging studies, a thorough history and a physical in order to determine an accurate diagnosis.
 
Arthritis does not usually exist in a vacuum.  This means that patients often have more than one medical condition or disease process going on at the same time.  Therefore, tests are used not only to identify the disease but to rule out other issues which may be causing the same symptoms.  Sometimes doctors have to use a diagnosis of exclusion.  This means the doctor will exclude everything else that the condition could be and will be left with the most probable diagnosis.

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