Ankylosing Spondylitis Management

Featuring: Dr. Kam Shojania, MD

Duration: 1 minute, 30 seconds

Management of ankylosing spondylitus includes lifestyle measures and medications.

Lifestyle measures include exercise and particularly range of movement of the spine. So good range of movement will help prevent the stiffness and loss of function people can get with ankylosing spondylitus.

A physiotherapist program is very important for a s because it's important to know how far you can take your back when it's stiff and inflamed, and perhaps some of the levels are already fused. So it's hard to know where your back is moving.

A physiotherapist can help show you what exercises to do, what tricks you can do to keep your spine straight, and if you're going to fuse, it's better to fuse straight than hunched over.

So the physiotherapist can be very helpful in getting you started on an exercise program. Later on, you can carry on yourself. There are some exercises that are very useful for people with ankylosing spondylitus, such as, yoga, or tai chi, other range of movement exercises.

However, later on if the spine is already completely fused, certain exercises should be avoided. And, again, it's important to run this by a physiotherapist in order to know what exercises are going to be helpful and what may make things worse.

If you think you have ankylosing spondylitus, or have questions about ankylosing spondylitus, please contact your healthcare provider.

Presenter: Dr. Kam Shojania, Rheumatologist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Rheumatologist