Best Exercises For Ankylosing Spondylitis: The Ways To Get Moving With It

One of the most beneficial ankylosing spondylitis treatment is exercise. Exercise helps to maintain nutrition and prevent muscle wastage in the spinal joints. It also helps to reduce pain, weakness, and inflammation in the long term. Walking, swimming, pilates and stretching help to reduce the progression of the disease. Exercises are best prescribed by a physical therapist to reduce aggravation of symptoms and to improve flexibility and strength.

Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic condition that causes a stiffening of the spine, which could eventually lead to the fusion of the joints in the vertebrae. It is a type of arthritis that affects the spine. The term ankylosing means vertebral inflammation. The definition of ankylosing spondylitis thus perfectly describes the condition in which a patient’s spine and surrounding pelvic joints stiffen even to the point of fusion.

Ankylosing spondylitis is a condition that is a lifetime cross to carry for those who suffer from it. It is so debilitating that some may need surgery. But most try to manage through medications or physical therapy. An unfortunate few, though, may need that surgical procedure.

But life with Ankylosing Spondylitis need not be spent in a wheelchair or in total pain. As mentioned earlier, the pain can be managed through medications and exercise. It has been found that patients who do group exercises get an improvement in spinal movement and are able to reach the floor better than those who do not exercise at all. As for others, it seems that spa therapy is pretty effective. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAID’s prove to be helpful in actually easing the pain brought by Ankylosing Spondylitis.

Ankylosing Spondylitis Exercises

If you have ankylosing spondylitis, you need to exercise. It’s that simple. A spondylitis-specific exercise program will benefit your posture, flexibility, and pain level. Sometimes it may be difficult to work it into your schedule, but it will really make a difference in your quality of life, and you’ll experience many benefits on a daily basis. Even If you can only find time for ten minutes, then go ahead and do that.

Sphinx Position

Lie on your stomach. Leaning on the forearms. Hold the position 20 minutes (with a good book or in front of the television). To be done daily.

Breathing Exercise

 

 

Lie on your back. arms along the body. Bring your arms over your head and inspiring, and bring them back into position while exhaling. In case of lower back pain, put a pillow under the legs. breathing exercises designed to maintain or even improve the capacity of your lungs.

Stretching exercises are great for maintaining flexibility in the joints and achieving proper posture. Back and abdominal exercises can also help to maintain an upright posture.

A physical therapist can provide exercises specifically tailored to your situation. Physical therapy can provide great benefits, ranging from improved flexibility to greater strength and even relief from pain.

Massage is very good for AS sufferers. This is because massage helps to increase blood flow to joints that are stiff. It also helps to loosen tight muscles and joints will allow better functional flexibility to the joint.

Heat also increases blood flow to the joints which loosens joints and muscles. One of the best ankylosing spondylitis treatment is the spa or sauna which loosen and relaxes the spine.

Find a time of day that’s convenient for you, then try to exercise at that time every day, if possible. That being said, sometimes you’ll have to make allowances for your condition on a particular day. If you normally feel stiff in the morning, use that time to start loosening up. However, if you can only perform your stretches properly after the stiffness decreases, then afternoons or evenings may be the only times you’ll be able to do those exercises on days when you’re especially stiff.

You also might find it helpful to perform different exercises at separate times on a regular basis. For example, do lying exercises in the morning. In the afternoon or evening, when the stiffness has decreased, do your neck stretches.

Of course, before starting an exercise program or making changes to your current program, consult your physician or physical therapist, and check with them to make sure that you’re performing the exercise correctly, as modifications may be necessary to suit your particular situation.

Conclusion

Like any other back condition, ankylosing spondylitis tends to cripple the patient because of the pain, and because the back is one of the most important areas of support in the human body. Just like any other condition that brings back pain, ankylosing spondylitis renders some people flat on their backs for days because they could not function well. More so than other back conditions, because it is an arthritic disease. If you have experienced rheumatoid arthritis, then you know how painful your joints would feel. Imagine that on your spine, and remember the fact that the spine holds the roots to all the major nerve systems in the body, and you can imagine just how painful ankylosing spondylitis is.

The worse thing about ankylosing spondylitis is that it has symptoms so similar to other back conditions, that the doctors may have a hard time diagnosing it. It actually takes doctors considerable time and close monitoring of the symptoms to be able to properly diagnose ankylosing spondylitis. Some cases of ankylosing spondylitis actually get diagnosed in the stages of bone fusion only because it is only in those states that changes to the bones and joints show up in MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans.

But as stated earlier, ankylosing spondylitis need not cripple a patient’s life. It is but a matter of attitude. If one finds purpose, contentment, and joy in life despite this condition, despite any other chronic or terminal illnesses, then life need not be seen through eyes of despair. One just needs to be armed with information on how to deal with this illness, and conditions like these need not rule nor cage him or her.

Best Exercises For Ankylosing Spondylitis: The Ways To Get Moving With It. Last Updated: 23/8/2017