Like most people with AS, I'm very tight. I have found Active Release Therapy a great help in keeping myself loose. ART is a modality which breaks up restrictions in and between muscles. Those restrictions keep the muscles from moving freely.

You can find more information at activerelease.com. Most of the people who do it are chiropractors, but the one I work with is a PT.

I'm amazed by it. I just went back to the PT this week as I am tightening up again, despite daily stretching. In one session, he gave me about 20 degrees of extension in my hips and my wrists. I'm also looser through my ankles and feet and can move my hips much better in every direction. I'll go back for a few more treatments so he can get those areas again, as well as my neck and shoulders.

This flexibility keeps my body moving correctly, helping to prevent joint damage from dysfunctional movement.

Everyone is different, but this might be useful for others.

Karen

I cannot make the universe obey me. I cannot make other people conform to my own whims and fancies. I cannot make even my own body obey me.

Thomas Merton



Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all.

Emily Dickinson