What is Ankylosing Spondylitis?

Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is an inflammatory rheumatic disease that primarily affects the spine, causing pain, deformity and disability with activity restriction, more common in men. It is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the immune system damages the person’s own tissues.

Although AS primarily affects the spine, it can affect the hip joint more often, as well as the knee, hand, foot and shoulder joints. It also affects the soft tissues around the joint, which causes further restriction of joint movements.

AS can affect the eye in 40% of cases and, rarely, some organs such as the heart. AS is not a life-threatening disease, but it can lead to serious disabilities if appropriate precautions are not taken.

What Causes It?

Ankylosing Spondylitis occurs when the individual’s immune system attacks the ligaments surrounding the spine and joints. The inflammation resulting from this attack causes the ligaments to thicken and calcify.

Accordingly, movements in the spine begin to be restricted. Over time, significant problems begin in turning and bending the head due to the restriction of waist and neck movements, especially in the back, and the restriction of hip movements. Walking is impaired due to the restriction of hip movements.

Although medical experts do not yet have definitive information about why this process called autoimmunity begins, they state that a hereditary component is likely.

In terms of regulation medicine, autoimmune diseases are the imbalance of the immune system and its activity in a way that harms itself. The main reason for this is the stress load of the body. This stress can be mental stress, as well as biophysical stress caused by the diseases and surgeries the person has had, or biochemical stresses such as nutritional deficiencies, intestinal flora disorders, vitamin mineral deficiencies, and toxic loads of the body.

As a result, when the sum of these stresses exceeds a certain threshold, behavioral disorders can also occur in the immune system. Among these stresses, especially intestinal flora disorders and hyperpermeable intestines that develop as a result of intestinal candida and heavy metals that can accumulate in the connective tissue and acid loads that trigger connective tissue damage are of particular importance in terms of Ankylosing Spondylolisthesis.

How is it diagnosed?

There is no specific diagnostic method. When the disease symptoms appear, the physical therapist or rheumatologist who goes to see the doctor and examines the findings to meet the diagnostic criteria determined for Ankylosing Spondylitis makes the diagnosis. Laboratory tests usually evaluate inflammation levels in the body, blood counts, liver and kidney function tests.

HLA-B27 positivity detected in the tissue types test used in Ankylosing Spondylitis cases also supports the diagnosis. X-rays repeated at certain intervals are used to monitor the damage in the spine and joints.

How is Ankylosing Spondylitis Treated?

The classical medical approach is to suppress the immune system to prevent it from damaging the joints and other tissues. For this purpose, anti-inflammatory drugs, cortisone and immune modulator drugs are used.

In terms of regulation medicine, a complete inventory of the stresses that form the basis of autoimmune disease should be made. For this purpose, all diseases, accidents and surgeries the person has had since birth are questioned, and segmental and interference field examinations are performed according to the neural therapy perspective. With bioinformative analyses, the person’s intestinal flora, candida levels, heavy metal and acid loads, food sensitivities, and mental stresses are determined. A personalized treatment plan is drawn up according to these findings.

Neural therapy reduces inflammation, especially in the ligaments around the spine, and treats problematic body areas (disruptive areas) created by past diseases. The balance of the vegetative nervous system and hormonal balance are restored.

A personalized diet program is given according to food sensitivities and candida load.

An effective chelation program is applied to detoxify heavy metal and acid loads accumulated in the body.

Psychokinesiology, microsystem acupuncture, and homeopathy are applied for mental stress.

With holistic regulation medicine approaches, the progression of the disease in patients is slowed down, and improvements in the findings can be detected.