Ankylosing Spondylitis Exercise Therapy and Self-Care

In addition to regular drug treatment for ankylosing spondylitis, exercise therapy is essential to promote recovery progress. The following is a brief discussion of the exercise therapy and self-care that should be used during the patient's treatment.

1. Exercise therapy

Patients should actively receive anti-inflammatory drug treatment to control joint pain, and perform joint activities in a timely, cautious and gradual manner. During the acute phase of the disease, perform gentle joint movements 1 to 2 times a day. The intensity of the exercise should be just enough to cause pain, which will help relieve joint contractures. When at rest, the acutely inflamed joint should be placed in an appropriate position.

Some function can be maintained when the position is fixed or splinted to prepare for the inevitable contracture and deformity that cannot be corrected in the future. During the subacute and chronic stages of the disease, persistent stretching exercises of the limbs and spine can not only maintain or increase the range of motion of the joints, but also relieve pain caused by muscle spasms or tension. Stretching exercises should be gradually increased in number, duration and frequency of daily activities according to the tolerance of pain.

2. Self-care

In addition to receiving various examinations and treatments from doctors, patients should learn to take care of themselves, such as performing body exercises carefully and for a long time (initially with the guidance of a physical therapist), maintaining a proper body position when resting, and removing the pillow and lying on the back if the lesion invades the thoracic and cervical vertebrae; any physical activity that can cause persistent pain should be avoided. Also measure your height regularly and record it. Patients should stop smoking.

3. Discussion

Ankylosing spondylitis patients and their families often believe that activity will make the disease worse. Therefore, in order to avoid or relieve the patient's joint pain, the affected joints are kept completely or basically immobile for a long time, which leads to muscle atrophy or joint contracture, resulting in joint or limb disabilities that are not serious and can be fully recovered, or actually in a disabled state with loss of mobility. Appropriate exercise therapy can help relieve joint contractures and maintain or increase joint range of motion and function. Patients with ankylosing spondylitis should understand that it is equally important to keep exercising in various parts of the body as to take medication. Even after the pain symptoms disappear completely and medication is stopped, they should still keep exercising for a long time.

(or physical therapy), keep each joint in a normal functional state as much as possible. The functional impairment caused by spinal deformity and ankylosing spine will cause great pain and difficulty for patients to perform movements such as bending, expanding the chest and flexing the neck. To mitigate or prevent these adverse consequences, patients should adopt self-care aimed at achieving and maintaining the optimal spinal position, increasing paraspinal muscle strength, and increasing lung capacity. Measuring and recording the patient's height regularly is a good measure to detect early spinal curvature. At the same time, patients should pay attention to lesions of the chest wall.