This disease is a painful, chronic, degenerative inflammatory type of arthritis. It primarily affects the spine and sacroiliac joints and causes eventual fusion of your spine.
It is a member of the autoimmune spondyloarthropathies.
Complete fusion results in a rigidity of the spine. This condition is known as bamboo spine.
Signs and symptoms of Ankylosing Spondylitis
Usually the patient is young, 15 to 30 years of age. With chronic pain and stiffness in the lower part of the spine.
Men are affected more than women by 2:1. In almost half of the cases found. Spondylitis is associated with iridocyclitis.
(Iridocyclitis a type of anterior uveitis, this is a condition in which the uvea of the eye suffers inflammation). Inflammation causes photophobia which is an increased sensitivity to light.
Other common symptoms are recurring mouth ulcers and fatigue. Pain can fluctuate from one side to the other.
Early symptoms may occur at a very young age, the patient may experience recurring painful joints in his or her knees or elbows. This is commonly misinterpreted as simple rheumatism.
More Signs and Symptoms of Ankylosing Spondylitis
Other areas you may have pain and stiffness in, is your lower back, buttocks and hips. It may continue for more than three months.
Spondylitis often starts around the sacroiliac joints. This is where the sacrum (the lowest major part of the spine) joins the ilium bone of the pelvis in the lower back region.
This disease can cause an overgrowth of the bones which may lead to abnormal joining of the bones and is called “bony fusion.
Fusion affects the bones in your neck, back and hips. It may also impair a person’s ability to perform routine activities.
Fusion of the ribs to the spine or breastbone may limit a person’s ability to expand his or her chest when taking a deep breath.
You may have pain in your ligaments and tendons that attach to your bones. Tendonitis which is inflammation of the tendons and may cause pain and stiffness behind or beneath your heel. People with this condition also may have fever, fatigue and loss of appetite.
What Causes Ankylosing Spondylitis?
The cause of spondylitis is unknown but there is a strong genetic or family link.
Some people with this disease carry a certain gene and are more likely to develop it.
Variations of the HLA-B gene increases the risk of developing spondylitis. This is not a diagnostic test.
People with the HLA-B27 variant are at a higher risk than the general population to end up with this disease
No cure is known for this disease, although treatments and medications are available to reduce symptoms and pain.
Physical therapy, exercise, medications and antioxidants using the acai power are at the heart of therapy for spondylitis. Movements will help in diminishing pain and stiffness but exercise in an active inflammatory state will just make the pain worse.
