Can Back Pain Be a Symptom of Axial Spondyloarthritis (AxSpA)? (2023)

FAQs

Can Back Pain Be a Symptom of Axial Spondyloarthritis (AxSpA)? ›

Osteoarthritis (OA) and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) can both contribute to back pain, but each may affect you differently.

Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA)—a condition affecting the joints of the spine, chest, and pelvis—can cause back pain, fatigue, joint pain, heel pain, sleep problems, abdominal pain, and more. These symptoms often occur after periods of inactivity, like sleeping or resting.

People with Ankylosing Spondylitis often describe an ongoing, dull pain that feels like it's coming from deep within their lower back or buttocks, along with morning stiffness. It is not unusual for symptoms to worsen, get better or stop completely at regular intervals.

The most common symptom of ankylosing spondylitis is lower back and/or hip pain and stiffness. Over time, the symptoms may progress to other areas of the spine.

Symptoms of axSpA include: Pain in the low back, buttocks and hips that develops slowly over weeks or months. Pain, swelling, redness and warmth in the toes, heels, ankles, knees, rib cage, upper spine, shoulders and neck. Stiffness when first waking up or after long periods of rest.

The exact cause of axial spondyloarthritis is not clear. Researchers believe that people with certain genes develop axial spondyloarthritis when they are exposed to a certain virus, bacteria or other environmental trigger. More than 9 out of 10 people with axial spondyloarthritis have a gene called HLA-B27.

According to these studies, a typical AS flare is characterized by increased back pain that may be stabbing in nature or feel like muscle cramps. Symptoms can be local or more generalized. Increased fatigue and emotional upset are common. Episodes may last from a few days to a few weeks.

Early symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis might include back pain and stiffness in the lower back and hips, especially in the morning and after periods of inactivity. Neck pain and fatigue also are common. Over time, symptoms might worsen, improve or stop at irregular intervals.

Chronic pain and stiffness in the lower back where your spine meets your pelvis. Ankylosing spondylitis causes chronic pain that can come and go. You might experience periods of flares and stiffness, and other times when you don't feel pain as acutely.

Where is ankylosing spondylitis back pain? ›

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a rare type of arthritis that causes pain and stiffness in your spine. This lifelong condition, also known as Bechterew disease, usually starts in your lower back. It can spread up to your neck or damage joints in other parts of your body.

Ankylosing spondylitis may affect more than the spine. The disease may inflame joints in the pelvis, shoulders, hips and knees, and between the spine and ribs.

What are the symptoms of an ankylosing spondylitis (AS) flare-up, and how can a person treat them? Symptoms of an AS flare-up can include fatigue, back stiffness, fever, depression, and joint pain. To treat an AS flare-up, a person can try medication, gentle exercise, and heat or cold therapy.

Axial SpA (AS) is a condition that affects young people. Symptoms start late teens to early twenties, with the average age of onset being 24.

NSAIDs for management of symptoms and inflammation in axSpA

NSAIDs remain the first-line drug treatment, in those without contra-indications, for symptoms in axSpA [1,2].

MRI of the sacroiliac joints (SIJs) is recognised as key imaging biomarker of axial spondyloarthritis (SpA), especially for recognition of emerging inflammation in the early phase of the disease.

The most common symptom of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is pain in the lower back. Some people also have pain, stiffness, and limited mobility outside the spine, such as in the hips, knees, and heels.

Spondyloarthritis Treatment

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. NSAIDs like ibuprofen, indomethacin (Tivorbex), meloxicam (Mobic), and naproxen (Aleve, Anaprox, Naprosin) can help with your symptoms. Corticosteroid medication. Shots in your joints or in the membrane around your tendon can work quickly.

People with AS tend to have chronic lower back, pelvic, and hip pain that comes and goes; during a flare, it can feel significantly more intense and debilitating. Research indicates that flares in AS are very common. One study found that AS patients had about one flare a month; each flare lasted about two weeks.

Is walking good for spondyloarthritis? ›

Walk It Off

For those who can safely exercise, Dr. Tehrani recommends low-impact activities like walking. Joint deformities, fused joints, misinformation, and fear of getting hurt can discourage some people from exercising, Tehrani says, but walking is a great way to ease into physical activity.

An ankylosing spondylitis flare-up may cause chronic back pain over time. You may feel dull to burning pain on both sides of the lower back, buttocks, and hips. Chronic pain can last for 3 months or longer.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a type of inflammatory arthritis that mainly affects the spine. Symptoms of AS include back pain, stiffness and reduced mobility in the spine. Ankylosing spondylitis commonly affects the sacroiliac joints. These joints connect the base of the spine (sacrum) to your pelvis.

Acute low back pain is most often caused by a sudden injury to the muscles and ligaments supporting the back. The pain may be caused by muscle spasms or a strain or tear in the muscles and ligaments. Causes of sudden low back pain include: Compression fractures to the spine from osteoporosis.

Enteropathic Arthritis

It involves joints in your arms and legs, most often your lower legs. It can also cause inflammation in your lower spine and sacroiliac joints or affect your entire spine — similar to AS.

Methocarbamol (Robaxin) Skeletal muscle relaxant used in conjunction with other therapies to treat pain and discomfort associated with musculoskeletal conditions. Reduces nerve impulse transmission from spinal cord to skeletal muscle.

U.S. FDA Approves Pfizer's XELJANZ® (tofacitinib) for the Treatment of Active Ankylosing Spondylitis.

Spasms in spinal muscles in ankylosing spondylitis patients cause pain and limitation of motion. The addition of a muscle relaxant to an NSAID helps decrease muscle pain and tightness.

At this time, no single test diagnoses ankylosing spondylitis. Your doctor may order a blood test to check for the HLA-B27 gene, which is present in most people with the disease. You may have the HLA-B27 gene and never develop ankylosing spondylitis, but it can give doctors more information when making a diagnosis.

It's important to remember that an MRI cannot rule out ankylosing spondylitis completely. It's possible to have AS and a seemingly regular MRI, especially early on in the disease.

What is the last stage of ankylosing spondylitis? ›

Advanced Ankylosing Spondylitis

If you have more advanced AS, your doctor may tell you that your spine has fused. That happens when new bone grows between some of the small bones that form your spine, joining them together. The more this happens, the less movement you have in your spine.

Ankylosing spondylitis is the more severe subtype of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). It means the damage to your joints is visible on an X-ray. But some experts think this distinction isn't clinically significant and consider axSpA as more of a spectrum.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (ank-ee-lo-zing spon-dee-li-tus) is a type of arthritis that mainly affects the back, by causing inflammation in the spine. This can make your back, rib cage and neck stiff and painful. It often starts in people who are in their late teens or 20s.

The type of pain you feel is likely a clue as to what condition you're dealing with. Ankylosing spondylitis pain tends to be duller and makes you feel stiff around the lower back and hips. Pain from sciatica is often a sharp, shooting pain that radiates down one side of your buttocks and leg.

The first human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotype association with human inflammatory disease was discovered in 1972, correlating HLA-B27 with ankylosing spondylitis. This remains one of the strongest known associations of this disease with HLA-B27.

In the second stage, joint involvement, particularly in the sacroiliac joints (located between the pelvis and spine), is visible on x-rays. Along with the symptoms of AS, these features make AS more likely to be diagnosed at this stage. In the third stage, joint damage has occurred and is irreversible.

Ankylosing spondylitis is caused by Klebsiella.

It is a rare disease, there is no cure, and you will end up in a wheelchair.

Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic, inflammatory disorder and a rare form of arthritis. Triggers for ankylosing spondylitis include infections (gastrointestinal infections, urinary tract infections [UTIs], and respiratory infections), heavy physical activity, work stress, emotional stress, and pregnancy.

In some cases, ankylosing spondylitis can be debilitating and lead to disability, according to the SAA. Over time, the inflammation associated with ankylosing spondylitis can cause the vertebrae of the spine to fuse together. In severe cases, when this happens, the spine can curve and cause a stooped position.

Does stress make spondyloarthritis worse? ›

That's because stress can exacerbate ankylosing spondylitis symptoms, including pain, according to the Spondylitis Association of America. Stress may also trigger an ankylosing spondylitis flare, a period of increased inflammation and worsening symptoms.

You might end up with a deformed spine

As the disease progresses, moving your spine gets increasingly difficult. The less you move your spine, the stiffer it can get. In the most severe cases, chronic inflammation causes the formation of extra bone between your vertebrae.

Abstract. Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is an important cause of chronic low back pain and affects approximately 1% of the US population. The back pain associated with axSpA has a characteristic pattern referred to as inflammatory back pain (IBP).

Sleep on your back to ease ankylosing spondylitis symptoms

Many people find relief from their ankylosing spondylitis symptoms by sleeping on their back. I tell my patients that the key to sleeping in this position is to maintain the natural curvature of their spine.

Axial Spondyloarthritis - also known as axSpA or axial SpA - is a painful, chronic arthritis that mainly affects the joints of the spine.

Signs and Symptoms of Axial Spondyloarthritis. The primary symptom of axSpA is inflammatory back pain, which is back pain that occurs because of chronic inflammation in the joints of your spine.

There are no specific lab tests to identify ankylosing spondylitis. Certain blood tests can check for markers of inflammation, but many different health problems can cause inflammation. Blood can be tested for the HLA-B27 gene.

A, Spondyloarthritis features include alternating buttock pain, dactylitis, asymmetrical arthritis, elevated acute-phase reactants (e.g., CRP or erythrocyte sedimentation rate), enthesitis, inflammatory back pain, inflammatory bowel disease, family history of SpA in a first- or second-degree relative, marked response ...

Healthcare providers diagnose axSpA if you have back pain and other symptoms of axSpA, even if an imaging test doesn't show inflammation. If you have symptoms of axSpA but no visible inflammation in the spine, your provider may diagnose non-radiographic axSpA.

Treatment for axSpA usually starts with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), physical therapy and exercise. As long as your disease isn't too advanced, NSAIDs and regular movement are usually enough to keep things under control.

What is the criteria for axSpA? ›

According to the ASAS classification criteria, patients who experience chronic back pain before the age of 45 years have axSpA if they (1) have imaging evidence of sacroiliitis (by MRI or radiography) plus 1 or more spondyloarthritis (SpA) feature or (2) are positive for human leukocyte antigen B27 (HLA-B27) and have 2 ...

Axial spondyloarthritis (axial SpA) is an inflammatory arthritis where the main symptom is back pain. Where changes to the sacroiliac joints or the spine can be seen on x-ray. Where x-ray changes are not present but inflammation is visible on MRI or you have symptoms.

Ankylosing spondylitis, also known as axial spondyloarthritis, is an inflammatory disease that, over time, can cause some of the bones in the spine, called vertebrae, to fuse. This fusing makes the spine less flexible and can result in a hunched posture. If ribs are affected, it can be difficult to breathe deeply.

HLA-B27 test.

HLA-B27 is a specific HLA associated with axSpA and related diseases. While not all people with axSpA test positive for HLA-B27, approximately 90% do, making it an important diagnostic tool for someone with axSpA symptoms.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) — such as naproxen sodium (Aleve) and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) — are the medicines health care providers most commonly use to treat axial spondyloarthritis and nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis.

Several biologics and their biosimilars are currently approved for use in AS: adalimumab (Humira), certolizumab pegol (Cimzia), etanercept (Enbrel), golimumab (Simponi), infliximab (Remicade), ixekizumab (Taltz) and secukinumab (Cosentyx).

While researchers haven't discovered a definitive cause of axSpA, they have identified unmodifiable risk factors that may contribute to its development. These include genetics and the presence of conditions such as inflammatory bowel diseases and osteoporosis, sex, and age.

Spondyloarthritis has two hallmark features: active inflammation and structural lesions with new bone formation. MRI is well suited to assess active inflammation, but there is increasing interest in the role of structural lesions at MRI.

Some genes may increase the risk that a person will develop axSpA. A person is more likely to develop axSpA if a family member has one of these genes or genetic markers. People who have a genetic marker called HLA-B27 are at a higher risk of developing axSpA.