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Ankylosing spondylitis: the symptoms, who gets it, getting a diagnosis, treatment, and living with it
For anyone whose lower back is stiff and sore, worse after rest and better when they move, anyone just told they have ankylosing spondylitis, and the people beside them. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS, part of the NIH) says it is a type of arthritis that causes inflammation in the joints and ligaments of the spine, and that it may also affect joints like the knees, ankles and hips. Many people have mild episodes of back pain and stiffness that come and go; others have severe, ongoing pain. There is no cure, but there are many treatment options, and with treatment most people with it can have productive lives. This page passes on, by name, what NIAMS says: the symptoms and how it can reach the rest of the body, who gets it and what causes it, how it is diagnosed and who treats it, the medicines, physical therapy and surgery, and what you can do day to day. It builds the words to say to a provider, and prints a card for the visit.
Right now
- Chest pain or severe trouble breathing: call 911 (ours).
- An eye that hurts, turns red, or vision that changes: get care the same day, at an emergency room if you cannot reach a provider (ours). NIAMS says the disease can cause eye pain and vision changes from uveitis, an inflammation of the eye.
- New, severe neck or back pain after a fall, a crash or a hit, losing control of your bladder or bowels, or new numbness or weakness in your legs: get care right away (ours).
More help
- Related: Back pain · Arthritis · Psoriasis · Pain that lasts · Pain, bones and joints.
- Day to day: Medical equipment · Quit smoking · Eye care · Symptom diary · My medicines list · Depression.
- Care and costs: When you need a doctor and can’t pay · When medicine costs too much · Get ready for your appointment.
- In a crisis: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Pain, a bone or a joint, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for back pain, arthritis, pain that lasts, headaches, broken bones and sickle cell, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 15, 2026 on NIAMS’s Ankylosing Spondylitis page, both parts: Overview, Symptoms, & Causes and Diagnosis, Treatment, & Steps to Take (NIH, last reviewed May 2023), and on its shorter Spanish twin, Espondilitis anquilosante (July 2023). Ours: calling 911 for chest pain or severe trouble breathing; getting care the same day, at an emergency room if you cannot reach a provider, for an eye that hurts, turns red, or vision that changes; getting care right away for new, severe neck or back pain after a fall, a crash or a hit, losing control of your bladder or bowels, or new numbness or weakness in your legs; writing down how long it has hurt and what makes it better or worse; bringing a list of every medicine you take; not stopping or changing a medicine on your own; asking what a test or treatment would change and what it costs; and the order of the steps. What we left out: any medicine’s name, any brand or dose, any supplement, remedy or product, and NIAMS’s research pages. This page saves nothing and loads no trackers.