Self-care for ankylosing spondylitis

Self-care supports medical treatment rather than replacing it. A routine should be flexible enough for workdays, travel, and flares, with exercises chosen for your current mobility and any hip, shoulder, or chest-wall involvement.

Ankylosing spondylitis often presents with stiffness after rest, so short movement breaks can be more manageable than leaving all activity until the end of the day. Include comfortable spinal extension, rotation, hip mobility, strengthening, and chest-expansion practice advised by your physiotherapist. Walking, swimming, or another low-impact aerobic activity can support general fitness.

Adjust screens, chairs, and driving positions to avoid staying folded forward for long periods. A supportive mattress and a pillow height that keeps the neck comfortable may improve sleep positioning. If you smoke, help to stop is worthwhile because smoking can worsen breathing health and compounds chest-mobility limitations.

On steadier days, progress activity gradually and use good technique rather than chasing a forceful stretch. During a flare, reduce intensity, split tasks into smaller bouts, and retain gentle range-of-motion work if it does not drive escalating pain. Heat can ease stiffness, while a cold pack wrapped in cloth may settle a hot peripheral joint.

Take prescribed medicines as directed and check before using over-the-counter anti-inflammatory products, particularly if you have stomach, kidney, heart, blood-pressure, or bleeding concerns. Keep brief notes on morning stiffness, sleep, activity tolerance, eye symptoms, and medicine effects; a changing pattern can help guide clinical review.

Contact your treating team when pain or stiffness is persistently increasing, daily function is declining, a joint becomes newly swollen, or medicine causes concerning symptoms. A painful red eye, light sensitivity, or blurred vision needs same-day eye assessment because ankylosing spondylitis can present with acute eye inflammation.

Use emergency care for sudden weakness or numbness in both legs, numbness around the groin, loss of bladder or bowel control, severe breathing difficulty, or significant spinal pain after trauma. These are not symptoms to manage with stretching or rest at home.

Ask a physiotherapist to check your exercise form and define what to change during a flare. With your doctor, clarify which medicine side effects warrant stopping a dose, how disease activity will be monitored, and whether hip, eye, skin, or bowel symptoms need another specialist.