Arthritis is the condition that affects your joints and causes pain and stiffness. It is of many types but the worst form of arthritis is known as Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). The condition is characterized by inflammation and pain in your pelvic and spinal regions. It also causes immobility and stiffness in vertebrae because spinal sections grow abnormally and start fusing together.
Studies still can’t provide the effective treatment for AS but some medications are used to manage the symptoms. Its symptoms become worse when you spend your life with wrong lifestyle choices.
In this article, Online Health Point is trying to convey to you all important information about what is Ankylosing spondylitis, what factors make the symptoms worse and what you can do to manage the symptoms.
So, keep on reading!
How Restriction of Movement Occurs?
The condition, Ankylosing Spondylitis causes fusion if vertebrae sit lower back that makes their forward and backward bending difficult. If you’re suffering from AS,you may experience stiffness in your back especially when you wake up in the morning. It also causes difficulty in sitting and standing for an extended period of time. Doctors often recommend that slight physical activity or exercise can help out the symptoms. For example, swimming is the best way to add a physical activity to your routine that not only promotes range of motion but also prolongs flexibility in vertebrae joints. The fusion of spinal vertebrae can also be managed with good posture and avoiding extreme stooping.
How Age Affects Your Spine?
Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) generally causes long-term inflammation and pain in your spinal joints. The stiffness and inflammation invertebrate leads to stiffness and pain on back and hip areas along with increase in immobility effects.
As studies show that sound has been designed to protect the inner vital organs and the nerves of the spinal cord. The vertebrae have been interlocked like puzzle pieces and fit together perfectly.this factors enhances the flexibility in spine and its joints without any compromise.
However, age factors influence a lot. With the progressing age, small cracks or tears occur in the tissues of inter-vertebral discs. Another factor, the loss of water from the nucleus pulposus (the inner gel-like core of the vertebra) causes stiffness in spinal joints.
Leading to decrease the ability of shock absorption.. This effect causes tearing and weakening of the outer ring of the vertebra known as annulus tuberosus.
Moreover the bulging vertebral discs cause compression and pain in the vertebral column.
Other than these factors, there are some more thighs that belong to your lifestyle make AS worse, such as:
Sedentary Lifestyle
Chronic back pain makes exercise difficult. Therefore, when you live a sedentary life, the symptoms of back pain and joint pain aggravate. Physical activity is a great tool to manage back pain and immobility issues in spinal joints. Exercise helps reduce pain , stiffness and improve joint flexibility.
However, it doesn’t mean that you start doing high impact physical activities at once that may ruin your joints flexibility to greater extent but consider incorporating lighter physical activities to your weekly and daily schedule according to your body’s needs.
For example, initially you can start with 30 minutes of activity at least five days a week after the recommendation of your physical instructor or physician. Because starting a workout regimen is a great change to your lifestyle that must be governed by anxiety to avoid any complications.
Poor Posture
Good posture helps maintain the shape and balance of your body, especially your spine. But poor posture increases the risk of spinal fusion that leads to difficulty in bending. AS progresses in different ways. This means it is not the same for everyone. Therefore, no one can tell you before time that when or how you can have a higher or lower chance of spinal fusion or when it might progress. But working on your posture can decrease the risk of developing ankylosing spondylitis. You can improve your posture, whether you’re sitting or standing. This may help:
- Strengthen your spinal muscles.
- Prevent anterior flexion deformity.
- Alleviate pain and stiffness.
In addition, keeping your back straight especially when you’re sitting is a great tool to avoid fusion in vertebrae. Keep your shoulder wide-band back, make sure your buttock must touch the back of your chair. Keep your feet flat on the floor while making a right angle with the floor when bent. Good posture practice when you’re standing includes walking around with a book in your head. This is the best way to stand straight with your body in an aligned position. Avoid sitting for a long time. Taking breaks to move around and slightly scratching your back can help avoid stiffness due to sitting.
Smoking
The condition was found being worse in those who smoke often.
Many researches have found that smoking is the vital cause of worsening of AS. Studies also show that smoking is greatly associated with symptoms of AS including:
- A higher number of inflammatory markers.
- Less spinal mobility.
- A statistically significant reduction in chest expansion.
- Difficulty in chest expansion.
- An increase in disease activity.
The reason is the inflammation that is caused by smoking. This shows smoking has bad effects on your whole body. Therefore, experts recommend smoking cessation while making treatment plans for AS.
Doing Too Much
inflammation in spinal vertebrae and joints is the most prominent sign of AS. But you also may notice pain and stiffness in vertebral joints.
Therefore, experts recommend avoiding overdoing it. In their opinion, it is essential to recognize your body’s limitations so that you may stop or do it. Because when you fail to pace yourself, you may experience burnout.
People sometimes engage themselves in high intense-duty physical strings that put too much strain on their joints. This triggers long term joint immobility and stiffness in the vertebral column. Your bike feels harder to recover after this.
So, it is good to listen to your body. Do a physical activity according to recommendations, pace yourself, and take rest when you feel burnout or tired.
Not Taking Medication According to Recommendations
Ongoing medication therapy is the only treatment option for managing other symptoms of AS. Researchers are still striving to find an accurate cure for the condition, but still state they haven’t found it. Therefore, the doctors often recommend medications according to your condition and symptoms you’re experiencing. But the results only appear when you take these medications according to the recommended dosage. The first aim of medications is to make the regression slow. So, try not to skip a dose for better results.
However, if you feel the medications are not working in your case and cundiii has been improved, speak with your doctor. They may reconsider the dosage and medications. They also may recommend other types of medications.
Common examples of medications generally recommended to manage symptoms of Ankylosing Spondylitis include:
- Immunosuppressants.
- Anti-inflammatory medications.
- Biologics, which destroy the specific proteins that cause inflammation in spinal joints.
- Over-the-counter pain relievers.
Being Overweight
A heavy bodyweight often leads to several types of stress. Ankylosing spondylitis is one of the conditions that get worse due to being overweight.
According to a 202 study, having a higher body mass percentage means you must experience AS symptoms. This is because when your back-binders have to carry more weight, or get compressed due to too much pressure on your spinal joints leading to increase in severity of pain.
In addition, obese people also experience inflammation in their joints that make AS symptoms worse.
But it is good news that abundant physical activity to your daily schedule can help you maintain a moderate weight. Modification in your diet faster is also considered effective to lose weight. Reducing food integer especially to use with contain fat, sugar, excess salt or processed items can help reduce inflammation as well as body weight increasing the consumption of following can help lose excess body weight:
- Vegetables and fruits.
- Lean meat.
- Healthy fats such as found in nuts.
- Whole grains.
Lack of Sleep
Pain makes it difficult to sleep well. A peaceful sleep needs comfortable bedding, environment and a relaxed body. Sleeping in pain is not easy. Your sleep schedule gets disturbed when you experience AS symptoms. You may have trouble sleeping or interrupted sleep. Frequent waking up throughout the night due to pain may make you tired in the morning. So, it is hard to sleep more to repair your body. But never forget lack of sleep is the leading cause of AS.
You must try to boost your sleep to reduce nighttime pain. Hanging a comfortable mattress may provide you support and is unfair. Fur reducing neck pain may make the number of pillows less.
More tops to have a sound sleep include:
- Keep your room dark and cool.
- Create a peaceful environment that provides you comfort.
- Use white noise machine o black the noses.
- Turn off all lights.
These steps help you have a good bedtime routine that may encourage a good sleep. Trace these steps to preventive stimulation at night. Other thoughts you can do to improve your sleep quality are:
- Avoiding coffee or alcohol before bed.
- Having a hot bath before bed.
- Avoiding eating large meals 2 -3 house before you like bed.
- Turning off all lights, electronic devices and T.V at least one hour before going to sleep.
If you feel no improvement after trying all these tips, it is good to contact a sleep specialist. They may help you rule to sleep alone because AS is considered the main cause of developing sleep conduits in people.
Chronic Stress
Symptoms of AS become worse due to stressful situations. Most people do not know that stress, depression and anxiety are the leading cause of ankylosing spondylitis.
A 2020 study had explored that if you are experiencing symptoms of AS the chances of experiencing stress and depression are higher for you. Because stress triggers stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones create fight-or-flight mode in your body leading to an extraordinary increase in your heart rate and blood pressure.
In addition, stress hormones also boost your immune system to release a social type of protein , called cytokines.
These can help you reduce inflammation and manage stress:
- Reduce your personal obligations.
- Adopt a pet.
- Learn how to say “NO”.
- Spend time with nature.
- Set reasonable goals for yourself, that could be attained with less effort.
- Practice deep breathing exercises and mindfulness meditation techniques to relax your mind and body.
- Distract yourself with some enjoyable activities where you can release your stress.
- Get plenty of rest.
- Talk about your problems with a trustworthy person who can motivate you.
Treatment for Ankylosing Spondylitis
Any effective therapies are available to treat AS but an exact treatment or cure is unavailable. Research is continuing and medical researchers are still trying to find out an authentic treatment option for the condition.
However, pain and inflammation reducing therapies are usually used to slow down the progression of disease. Common way to manage the symptoms of AS is using over-the-counter medications including some anti-inflammatory drugs, such as:
- Ibuprofen.
- Certolizumab.
- Etanercept.
- Golimumab.
- Secukinumab.
- Adalimumab.
- Infliximab.
Conclusion
Ankylosing Spondylitis is a condition that affects your routine life adversely. Its symptoms range from mild to severe. Your everyday life becomes challenging when you experience its severe symptoms and flare-ups.
In addition, a sedentary lifestyle, improper posture and doing too much work can worsen the AS. Smoking is another cause of less spinal mobility leading to higher AS disease activity. Increased body weight also influences the symptoms and links with inflammation and increased pressure on joints.
Moreover, lack of sleep and chronic stress also make the condition severe and unbearable. Better sleep habits with a comfortable sleep environment can help improve your sleep.
Meditation contributes a lot in making you feel better. Incorporating some physical activity can improve the quality of life. These tips are useful, no doubt, but if the condition is not becoming better and symptoms continue to worsen, talk to your healthcare provider for a better management plan.
