Tag: san diego joint doctor

Osteochondritis dissecans is a medical condition in which the bone and cartilage loses the blood supply that enables them to function properly. This usually happens to boys between 9 to 18 years of age that are active in sports. This joint disease usually affects a boy’s knees, but it can affect the elbows and ankles as well.

Symptoms

Symptoms of osteochondritis dissecans include pain, soreness, stiffness, locking of the joint, and limited range of joint movement. The pain usually flares up after an intense physical activity. Those that are at a higher risk for osteochondritis dissecans are football, basketball, and soccer players.

For most children, the pain fades away and the bone will heal on its own by having plenty of rest and protecting the knee with splint, cast, or braces. Physical therapy can also be implemented to strengthen the bone joint. Your child can return to normal activities as symptoms improve over time.

Treatment

However, if your child’s joint pain remains persistent and does not go away, you should seek professional medical attention. The symptoms of osteochondritis dissecans are quite similar to other bone and joint diseases so it is important to establish an accurate diagnosis as well as implement the right treatment plan.

Initial treatment for OCD usually begins with the RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation) method. A cast or a brace may be used to strengthen the joint and weight-bearing exercises may be implemented. However, if these do not work, surgical intervention may be needed to improve the outcome.

A patient suffering from severe osteochondritis dissecans can be treated with arthroscopy to remove the problematic cartilage from the joint. Another option is drilling the bone lesion to create new pathways for the blood vessels to flow. A graft can also be done to replace the damaged joint with a new bone and cartilage.

Arthritis is something you think you will get once you grow old, and not something you think your child will get. What a lot of people don’t know is that kids get arthritis, too.

Juvenile arthritis is an inflammation of the synovium for children aged 16 years and below. Specialists think that this disease is caused by genetics, infections, or environmental factors.

Symptoms of Juvenile Arthritis

Juvenile arthritis is considered an autoimmune disorder, and its first signs are usually subtle. It can be something as simple as excessive clumsiness, or a joint pain in the morning that never goes away. Joints may become painful, stiff, and tender. They may even lose some of their mobility. There may even be limping involved, as well as fatigue and loss of appetite.

At this point, it is best to have the child evaluated by a San Diego pediatric orthopedic doctor to rule out conditions that have similar symptoms as juvenile arthritis. An early and accurate diagnosis is important in order to help your child manage the disease.

Treating arthritis at its early stage is important because your child is still growing. If untreated, the disease can affect your child’s growth plates and can interfere with your child’s growth and bone development.

Treatments for Juvenile Arthritis

After a diagnosis has been established, it is best to work closely with a San Diego orthopedic doctor to get the best possible outcome. Having a specialist and a team of health providers will ensure that your child will remain physically active and will maintain an overall good quality of life that was previously enjoyed even before the diagnosis.

Your doctor will recommend a combination of treatments such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), physical therapy, and exercise. When arthritis symptoms flare up, corticosteroids such as prednisone may be injected directly to the child’s joints.