Ankylosing Spondylitis: How to Get Support at Work and Home
Look for swollen, red, warm, or tender joints and tendons. These are most often in the shoulder, knee, ankle, foot, and toe. The swelling and stiffness are usually worse in the morning but get better as you start moving. It can be tough to move the joint and can hurt when you walk.
Inflammation also happens where ligaments and tendons attach to bones. One example is your Achilles tendon. In other cases, a whole toe or finger might swell up.
Sometimes doctors may mistakenly believe people with AS have rheumatoid arthritis, because their patients have issues with their other joints.
Doctors will work with you to get your AS under control with medications and may encourage you to do physical therapy.
You may feel hip pain in your groin, knees, or thigh. Pain in your hip usually pops up before the age of 16.
AS in the shoulders tends to happen less often.
When these areas are inflamed, it can make it harder to walk.
In your foot, you can get plantar fasciitis. That’s when soft tissue on the bottom of your heel gets inflamed. You may feel sharp pain there, especially after standing up from sitting or lying. Stretching, night splints, shoe inserts, and supportive shoes can give you relief.
Your Achilles tendon can also get inflamed. That causes pain, redness, and swelling in the heel. Calf stretches, shoe inserts, and supportive shoes can help.
Earlier this year, Gomez started having problems with her eye. “It got super-red, I couldn’t see, and it hurt so much,” she says.
Gomez had uveitis, inflammation of the eye.
“I was used to not being able to use my hip,” she says. “But the uveitis immobilized me in a very different way.”
Uveitis usually happens in one eye. You can be sensitive to light, and it might affect your eyesight. An eye doctor can prescribe steroid and other eye drops.
Waiting too long to treat it can lead to vision loss, so watch out for eye symptoms.
How to Spot AS in Your Other Joints
Look for swollen, red, warm, or tender joints and tendons. These are most often in the shoulder, knee, ankle, foot, and toe. The swelling and stiffness are usually worse in the morning but get better as you start moving. It can be tough to move the joint and can hurt when you walk.
Inflammation also happens where ligaments and tendons attach to bones. One example is your Achilles tendon. In other cases, a whole toe or finger might swell up.
Sometimes doctors may mistakenly believe people with AS have rheumatoid arthritis, because their patients have issues with their other joints.
Doctors will work with you to get your AS under control with medications and may encourage you to do physical therapy.
AS in Your Hips and Shoulders
You may feel hip pain in your groin, knees, or thigh. Pain in your hip usually pops up before the age of 16.
AS in the shoulders tends to happen less often.
Spondylitis in Ankles, Feet, or Knees
When these areas are inflamed, it can make it harder to walk.
In your foot, you can get plantar fasciitis. That’s when soft tissue on the bottom of your heel gets inflamed. You may feel sharp pain there, especially after standing up from sitting or lying. Stretching, night splints, shoe inserts, and supportive shoes can give you relief.
Your Achilles tendon can also get inflamed. That causes pain, redness, and swelling in the heel. Calf stretches, shoe inserts, and supportive shoes can help.
How AS Can Affect Your Eyes
Earlier this year, Gomez started having problems with her eye. “It got super-red, I couldn’t see, and it hurt so much,” she says.
Gomez had uveitis, inflammation of the eye.
“I was used to not being able to use my hip,” she says. “But the uveitis immobilized me in a very different way.”
Uveitis usually happens in one eye. You can be sensitive to light, and it might affect your eyesight. An eye doctor can prescribe steroid and other eye drops.
Waiting too long to treat it can lead to vision loss, so watch out for eye symptoms.
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