Children’s of Alabama Pediatric Spondyloarthritis Clinic

By: Matthew Stoll, M.D., Ph.D., MSCS, treats pediatric rheumatology patients at Children’s of Alabama. Dr. Stoll is also an associate professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Rheumatology.

The Pediatric Spondyloarthritis Clinic at Children’s of Alabama is devoted to the clinical care and research of children diagnosed with juvenile spondyloarthritis. The clinic was established in March 2014. Today, more than 150 children are being treated for spondyloarthritis at Children’s.

According the Arthritis Foundation, nearly 300,000 children — from infants to teenagers — in the United States have some form of arthritis. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common type of arthritis in children, in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s tissues, causing inflammation in joints and potentially other areas of the body.

Spondyloarthritis is one of six types of JIA. It involves inflammation and tenderness in areas where the ligaments and tendons attach to the bones, accompanied by pain and swelling in the joints. In some cases, spondyloarthritis primarily affects the spine. Some forms can affect the peripheral joints, primarily — but not exclusively — those in the legs. Typical symptoms are low back pain and stiffness, joint swelling and pain in areas such as the Achilles tendon.

In addition, some patients with spondlyoarthritis may experience inflammation in parts of the body other than the joints. My research has focused specifically on the links between inflammation in the gut and in the joints of children and adults with spondlyoarthritis.

Children who are referred to the weekly Pediatric Spondyloarthritis Clinic benefit from the continuity of care from a team of doctors with targeted clinical expertise in this area. While there are few effective therapeutic options in the management of spondlyoarthritis, current treatment regimens include conventional therapeutic drugs, as well as newer biologic therapies.

While the exact cause of juvenile idiopathic arthritis, including spondlyoarthritis, remains unknown, clinic patients can participate in our ongoing research that will help advance understanding of pediatric spondyloarthritis.

The Pediatric Spondyloarthritis Clinic also provides screening and treatment specifically for temporomandibular joint arthritis (TMJ), a joint frequently ignored in children with JIA as a whole.


To refer a patient, please contact the Pediatric Rheumatology Clinic at 205-638-9438.



The Division of Pediatric Rheumatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Children's of Alabama was created in 2007 in response to a great need for pediatric rheumatic care in the state of Alabama, the largest state population without a pediatric rheumatologist at the time. A partnership between UAB, Children’s, the local chapter of the Arthritis Foundation and the greater Birmingham community helped to establish new clinic space, the creation of an endowed chair in Pediatric Rheumatology and ongoing support for the growth of the division.