Once your child is beginning to respond to treatment, active physiotherapy becomes an important part of their treatment. This helps to help strengthen weak muscles and treat or prevent contractures which lead to stiffness of joints. Contractures can occur early and compound the problem of muscle weakness. Regular physiotherapy will be started in hospital and arrangements will be made for the local services to take over when your child is well enough to go home. Your child will have a programme of exercises, which will be made as much fun as possible and you will be taught how to help with these at home.
Most children make a full recovery from their disease.
However, the time taken may vary from a few months to several years in some cases. In a minority there may be some permanent weakness and contractures, although with the advent of cyclosporin therapy many such children have made significant progress. A rare complication of juvenile dermatomyositis is calcinosis - the formation of chalky material under the skin. This tends to occur when the muscle inflammation has settled and may improve only very slowly. In some instances surgical removal of the deposits may be necessary.