Spinal Mobility and Radiologic Change after Comprehensive Rehabilitative Management of Ankylosing Spondylitis

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the evidence of improvement of spinal mobility and the radiologic change of ankylosing spondylitis with comprehensive rehabilitative management. METHOD: We retrospectively studied spinal mobility index and radiologic changes of the twenty eight patients who had met the modified New York criteria of ankylosing spondylitis. RESULTS: Patients comprised 25 men and 3 women with age ranged from 22 to 63 (mean 44.9) years. With spinal mobility index, including Schober index, lumbar lateral bending, chest expansion, occiput to wall, and finger to floor, all in dices showed improvement after comprehensive rehabilitative management. When we evaluated the correlation between spinal mobility index and radiologic change scored by Bath ankylosing spondylitis radiology index (BASRI), patients with mild radiologic change (BASRI grade 0-2) showed improvement in spinal mobility. Radiologic change from initial visit to after one year showed no statistical difference. CONCLUSION: We found that intensive rehabilitative management increases spinal mobility of the patients with ankylosing spondylitis.