A pediatric rheumatologist is a physician who treats children and adults with joint and connective tissue disease and musculoskeletal conditions that affect the muscles and bones.
Pediatric rheumatologists also treat auto-immune disorders, conditions in which the immune system identifies the body’s own tissue as an invader and subsequently attacks it. Rheumatic disease may be caused by an underlying immune system deficiency and can be quite painful from the inflammation of tissue in the body.