Despite the chronic nature of the illness, only a few people with ankylosing spondylitis will become severely disabled. The management of pain and the control of inflammation can reduce the daily problems that may occur with ankylosing spondylitis.
Ankylosing spondylitis is a form of arthritis that mostly affects the spine. It's a lifelong condition without a cure. However, exercise, medications and lifestyle changes can help manage symptoms so you can enjoy a long, productive life. It's rare for someone with AS to become severely disabled.
The main clinical manifestations are spinal stiffness and inflammatory back pain, which can potentially affect gait ability of patients with ankylosing spondylitis.
Advanced Ankylosing Spondylitis
The more this happens, the less movement you have in your spine. It happens slowly, but it sometimes leads to complete spinal fusion over time. Fusion in your spine can put you at a high risk for fractures. It can also make your spine curve forward, leading to a hunched-over posture.
In some cases, ankylosing spondylitis can be debilitating and lead to disability, according to the SAA. Over time, the inflammation associated with ankylosing spondylitis can cause the vertebrae of the spine to fuse together. In severe cases, when this happens, the spine can curve and cause a stooped position.
Osteoporosis and spinal fractures
In AS osteoporosis can develop in the spine and increase your risk of fracturing the bones in your backbone. The longer you have the condition, the more this risk increases. If you do develop osteoporosis, you'll usually need to take medicine to help strengthen your bones.
Spondylosis can lead to spinal stenosis, which is a narrowing of the spinal canal. As a result, the spinal cord and/or spinal nerve roots can become compressed (pinched). For example, the cervical spinal cord can be affected by compression from spondylosis. This is called cervical spondylotic myelopathy.
Results: The study comprised 5,930 AS patients and 29,018 matched controls who were followed up for a median period of 7.5 years. There were 667 deaths within the AS cohort and 2,919 deaths within controls; the mean age at death was 76.9 years and 77.1 years, respectively (P = 0.74).
The disabling features of AS are primary related to the chronic pain, stiffness, and permanently restricted range of motion of the spine. In addition to back pain, AS can also cause other joints, such as the hips, knees, and shoulders, to become arthritic.
Second Stage AS
As ankylosing spondylitis symptoms worsen (increased pain and stiffness), the disease may start to involve other parts of the body. For example, systemic inflammation can affect the eyes and your vision could become impacted.
Inflammation Uncontrolled systemic (body-wide) inflammation is the factor that best predicts fatigue in AS. Cell messengers called cytokines that are part of the inflammatory process may cause the sensation of fatigue, and inflammation can also cause anemia (inadequate red blood cells), which also causes fatigue.
The majority of people with ankylosing spondylitis are able to continue a productive, active work schedule. Whether you work in or outside the home, the following suggestions may help. It may be helpful to discuss your work with your rheumatologist.
Ankylosing Spondylitis is a chronic disorder that will impact you for the rest of your life.
Some people with AS are able to remain fully independent or minimally disabled in the long term. However, some people eventually become severely disabled as a result of the bones in their spine fusing in a fixed position and damage to other joints, such as the hips or knees.
There's no cure for ankylosing spondylitis (AS), but treatment is available to help relieve the symptoms. Treatment can also help delay or prevent the process of the spine joining up (fusing) and stiffening. These treatments can also help if you have non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis.
Lack of Exercise Worsens Stiffness
“A sedentary lifestyle will worsen the stiffness and decreased mobility and flexibility that accompany ankylosing spondylitis,” says Waseem Mir, MD, the founder of New York Integrative Rheumatology and a rheumatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Although ankylosing spondylitis can occur in more than one person in a family, it is not a purely genetic disease. Multiple genetic and environmental factors likely play a part in determining the risk of developing this disorder.
Inflammation linked to ax-SpA usually begins before it can be seen in X-ray images. This inflammation leads to symptoms like pain and stiffness. Progressive disease describes the slow changes that may or may not eventually show up on X-ray. These changes usually occur over years or even decades.
What causes it? And who is at risk? There is no known specific cause. Ankylosing spondylitis is relatively rare, affecting about 1 in 1,000 people.
Ankylosing spondylitis symptoms most often begin before age 40, with some people experiencing symptoms before age 16. In teenagers or younger, it's called juvenile-onset ankylosing spondylitis. Men are more likely to be diagnosed with the condition than women.
AS can run in families, and the HLA-B27 gene variant can be inherited from another family member. If you have AS and tests show you carry the HLA-B27 gene variant then there is a 1 in 2 chance that you could pass on the gene variant to any children you have.