SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — It's hard to imagine having to deal with arthritic pain at two years old, but a girl named Sophia knows what it's like, and has now found a treatment that seems to be working for her.
Two-year-old Sophia Dykins loves to play and run around like any toddler would, but her mother, Heidi, says that was not the case just last March.
"The flare-up, really kind of happened overnight," said Heidi Dykins, Sophia's mother.
Sophia's ankles were swollen, prompting a visit to the orthopedic urgent care.
When the x-rays turned up clear, the next step was physical therapy.
"When she first came to us she wouldn't walk, she liked to be carried. She was in so much pain that her motor skills were being delayed," said Geisinger Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Scranton Physical Therapist Sara Curmaci.
It was the physical therapists at Geisinger Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Scranton who suggested Sophia seek immediate care with a rheumatologist.
"A lot of people don't think that kids can have arthritis. They think about old people getting arthritis," said Doctor Emily Brunner, Rheumatologist with Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.
Juvenile arthritis affects approximately one in every one thousand children.
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After blood tests and an MRI, Sophia was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA.)
She suffered from joint pain. It affected not just her ankles but her whole body.
"She just had this big swollen ankle and she wasn't able to straighten her leg out she couldn't stand up straight and she just wasn't moving around running around being a kid," Dr. Brunner explained.
"I didn't know that juvenile arthritis was even a possibility and I think that most people don't know that," said Heidi Dykins.
Thankful for the help from Geisinger, Heidi says now she wants to spread awareness about JIA to other parents.
"Start looking at how their kids are moving, and does that look right or not, because I wasn't looking at that. I didn't think about it until it got so bad that she was then limping, and dragging her foot," said Heidi Dykins.
After medical treatment and months of continued physical therapy, Sophia is back to normal.
"To see Sophia jump on the trampoline is probably the biggest accomplishment because there was a time when she wouldn't do steps, she was afraid of the swing. She would not do anything that challenged her because of the pain that she was in," said Curmaci.
Dr. Brunner says one of the most common signs of juvenile arthritis is stiffness.
