Joint pain in children can be caused by injury, infection or disease. The most common joint injuries are due to repetitive use or hyperextension. Diseases that cause joint pain include juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease and osteochondritis. Infections such as rheumatic fever, Lyme disease and osteomyelitis can also cause joint pain. Chronic joint pain may be caused by an infection, such as rheumatic fever, or a disease like rheumatoid arthritis. Celiac disease and osteochondritis can also cause joint pain.
Joint pain in children can be caused by injury, infection, or disease. The most common joint injuries are the result of repetitive use of a joint or hyperextension of a joint. Diseases that can cause joint pain in children include juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease and osteochondritis. Rheumatic fever, Lyme disease, and osteomyelitis are infections that can also produce joint pain.
Short-term or rapid onset of joint pain in children is usually the result of an injury rather than a disease. Repetitive motion often required during sports or hyperextension of a young, flexible joint are common forms of trauma that result in joint pain. If the pain decreases or disappears after a period of inactivity, it is likely that the injury was the cause of the pain.
When joint pain is chronic and doesn’t ease with rest, the cause of joint pain in children may be an infection. The most likely infection is rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever occasionally occurs about 20 days after a strep throat or scarlet fever infection and is associated with joint pain and swelling, along with fever, shortness of breath, and chest and stomach pains.
Infected deer ticks can transmit Lyme disease, which can eventually cause joint pain. Lyme disease may initially produce just a small rash characterized by a pink area surrounded by a darker red. Several days to weeks after the bite, joint pain, stiffness, and general flu-like symptoms will develop.
Osteomyelitis is a bone infection. It is less common than the previously mentioned infections, but can also cause childhood joint pain. Bone infection can be caused when a blood-borne infection reaches the bone, an infected puncture wound spreads to the bone, or bacteria enters the bone through a compound fracture.
When the discomfort associated with childhood joint pain doesn’t ease with inactivity or often comes and goes over time, it’s often the result of an illness. The most likely disease is rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis in children is typically characterized by joint pain and stiffness that hinders the child’s movement.
Joint pain in children can occasionally be caused by celiac disease. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease in which an immune response is triggered against the digestive system by eating gluten. The disease ultimately damages the intestines’ ability to properly absorb food. Joint pain is an associated symptom and joint pain can be a result of inflammation from the immune response in the body.
Osteochondritis, an orthopedic condition characterized by rapid bone growth, is another disease that causes joint pain in children. The result of accelerated bone growth is an interruption in the blood supply to the cartilage, causing bone to die and then grow back. This cycle of bone death and regrowth is thought to be the cause of the associated joint pain.
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