Camp Arctic: Where Kids with Juvenile Arthritis Can be Kids

By Caslon Hatch Channel 2 News

9:15 a.m. AKDT, June 26, 2013

ANCHORAGE, Alaska— 

 

Summer camp is a place where kids just want to be kids -- but when you’re a kid with juvenile arthritis, summer camp activities also mean struggling through joint pain.
Camp Arctic is not your average summer camp, it’s a place where families can come together, specifically families with children who suffer from juvenile arthritis.
Camp Arctic encourages kids to reach their full potential no matter their challenges and to live beyond the boundaries of arthritis.
Rebecca Williams’s daughter, 13-year-old DaiJenae Townes, was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis just a few months ago.
“Through four years of blood doctors and rheumatologist and OPA doctors we were diagnosed March 22^nd with juvenile arthritis,” Williams said.

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More about Juvenile Arthritis

Your Health: Bunions, arthritis can plague the big toe causing pain and change in gait

 Your Health: Bunions, arthritis can plague the big toe causing pain and change in gait

The big toe – most formally called the hallux – plays a large role in our daily activities. Without it, or with a poorly functioning big toe, our gait becomes less efficient, we might have pain and we have limited function. There are two very common problems that affect the big toe, and thus affect many lives.

For more information about bunions

 http://arthritis-symptom.com/a-c/bunion.htm

New study shows sugar injections can help with arthritis pain.

UW researchers find another way to ease arthritis knee pain – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

   In a study published in the May/June edition of the Annals of Family Medicine, UW-Madison researchers tested the efficacy of a practice known as prolotherapy with a form of sugar known as dextrose for knee osteoarthritis. Prolotherapy involves the injection of a nonpharmacological solution into tender spots on the body to relieve pain at those injection sites. It is generally used for a variety of skeletal conditions, including arthritis, as well as overuse tendon disorders and back pain.

Read the entire article here

Lack of vigorous activity linked to decline in those with arthritis – Toronto NewsFIX

Lack of vigorous activity linked to decline in those with arthritis – Toronto NewsFIX

A study shows that lack of vigorous physical activity is linked to disability in those with arthritis.

They followed a group of nearly 6,000 men and women with arthritis and found that over two years, 14 per cent of them became increasingly disabled. This decline was linked to many different factors including added ailments, such as diabetes or stroke and, above all, lack of regular vigorous physical activity.

More information at

Lack of vigorous activity linked to decline in those with arthritis

We have updated several sections of our Rheumatoid arthritis section of our site.

Symptoms	Treatment	Diagnosis	Medication
Resources	Causes	Picture	Drug-Induced

Study finds rheumatoid arthritis patients benefit from massage therapy – Teatro Naturale

 Additionally, the study found that rheumatoid arthritis patients experienced perceived greater grip strength and greater range of motion in their wrists and large upper joints, including elbows and shoulders, after receiving moderate pressure massage ...
New research suggests massage therapy as powerful tool for pain reliefChiropractic Economics
Massage Envy for the Weekend WarriorPR.com (press release)

Ibuprofen  may raise the risk of heart attack and stroke when taken in regular prescription size dosages.

 A new study by the University of Oxford of 320 thousand men taking prescription dosage of Ibuprofen taken daily were 40 percent more likely to have a heart. The study found that the cardiac side effect were similar to that of Vioxx which was taken off the market for increased risk of heart attack.

For those taking Ibuprofen as well as other NSAIDs were also found to double the risk of heart failure and complications such as bleeding ulcers when taken in high quantities.

The research shows that, when used in high doses,  ibuprofen increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, on average causing about three extra heart attacks a year in every 1,000 patients treated.

For the patient this is a risk verses benefit choice. The severe pain of diseases such a rheumatoid arthritis may be well worth the risks involved. The risks of bleeding ulcers which can lead to death if not treated should not be a problem if the patient is educated and monitored by their physician.

People taking NSAIDs occasionally for pain have never been found to be at higher risk for arthritis.