ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the clinical effect and mechanism of long snake moxibustion combined with functional exercise for treatment of ankylosing spondylitis in early stage.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Seventy-eight cases of ankylosing spondylitis in early stage were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 39 cases in each group. The observation group was treated with long snake moxibustion from Dazhui (GV 14) to Yaoshu (GV 2) combined with functional exercise; the control group was treated with oral administration of Sulfasalazine. The effects of the two groups were observed, and contents of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) were tested before and after treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The total effective rate of 89.7% (35/39) in the observation group, was superior to that of 76.9% (30/39) in the control group (P<0.05). The contents of ESR, TNF-alpha, and ICAM-1 showed downtrend after treatment in the both groups (P<0.05, P<0.01), and the observation group decreased more obviously (all P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Long snake moxibustion at Governor Vessel combined with functional exercise for treatment of ankylosing spondylitis in early stage, can significantly improve clinical symptoms, decrease the level of serum inflammatory cytokines, and the effect is superior to that of Sulfasalazine oral administration.</p>