Navigation Question

I've created a custom navigation bar that has four set links to four categories/boards on the site. I'd like to give them an 'active' CSS class when a user is within that specific board or in the category. Is there a solution Lithium has for this? I've been thinking through parsing through the URL using javascript but its just not reliable with the possibility of changing names (since its the title that shows up in the URL and not the id) and subcategories that dont display their parents' title/id in the URL. 

I know the breadcrumb component displays hierarchy, is there a way to possibly use something similar to find the containing category or board of a page?

Perhaps, I'm going about this all wrong and overlooking something obvious. Anyways, kinda stuck. Would appreciate some help. Thanks!