Ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis is a type spondyloarthropathy. Spondyloarthropathies cause joint inflammation. Ankylosing spondylitis causes joint pain, inflammation and stiffness. The exact cause of it is unknown. Ankylosing spondylitis typically first affects people younger than 35 years old and is hereditary. Ankylosing spondylitis may also cause inflammation to the iris in the eye, the heart valves, aorta, lungs and in some serve cases the kidneys and digestive tract.

Symptoms

Ankylosing spondylitis causes inflammation most often located in the spine. It commonly causes spinal stiffness and low back pain. Swelling and limited motion in the spine, hips, low back, neck and chest wall is common. In advanced cases, the affected joints in the spine may fuse together (ankylose).

Treatment

There is no cure for ankylosing spondylitis. All treatments including medications aim to control the symptoms. Your chiropractor or physiotherapist will aim to reduce pain, improve posture and give exercises to help the function of your spine.

Causes of low back pain

The following conditions are common causes of low back pain.

• Lumbar myelopathy
• Cauda equina syndrome
• Lumbar spinal stenosis
• Bone Spurs
• Degenerative disc disease (DDD)
• Pinched nerve
• Lumbar radiculopathy
• Lumbar facet joint pain
• Bulging Disc
• Herniated Disc
• Disc protrusion
• Discogenic pain
• Post laminectomy syndrome
• Coccydynia
• Spondylolisthesis
• Spondyloarthropathy
• Ankylosing spondylitis
• Reiter’s syndrome
• Psoriatic arthritis
• Enteropathic arthritis
• Sacroiliac disorders
• Foot drop
• Spinal neurofibroma
• Acute low pain
• Chronic low back pain
• Stiff low back
• Trigger points in the low back
• Red flags for low back pain
• Internal disc disruption
• Lumbar spondylosis
• Lumbar facet syndrome
• Lumbar foraminal stenosis
• Lumbar disc herniation
• Lumbar osteoarthritis
• Lumbar osteophytes