Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Can trauma to the body trigger AS

I think so. My AS started during an inflammation in my left knee caused by the collision of knees. Where after collision if swollen for weeks. When i bring it to a doctor, a rheumy. He extracted plenty of fluid. After that she told me i have gout. After a few weeks the pain in my knee went up to my back, these got me hospitalized and told me i have reiter's syndrome. Then not until i was 29 that she told me i have AS as a result of my x-ray. The knee collision was when i was 21 yrs old. She told me I have fusion on my spine.

Joemar
Philippines

Hi Tink. Yes, I think that trauma can lead to an AS flare. Mine first flared up after a fall when I was 16. Hauled myself out of the sea into a dinghy, twisted, sat and fell back cracking my SI on an oxygen cylinder. Was painful but I was swimming soon after that. The next morning I couldn't get out of bed. THe proper diagnosis came 14 years later but I had intermittent back trouble including attacks that left me completely unable to walk for days - hip joints and sciatica as well as lower back. Then 3 years ago I dived into the sea and bellyflopped which left me in a world of pain for ages and then the spasms kicked in and the kyphosis began in earnest. Haven't got much neck mobility since then though I am still fighting it as it hadn't fused as of 2008. I wil be going in for an MRI soon and don't look forward to the report.

Hope you are feeling a bit better now. I started physio yesterday and actually began feeling better the day before that. Once again, rained here that day and that changed the humidity levels - that always sets off some reaction in me - a good one this time - phew. Also been very strictly NSD and no dairy and I think that has helped a lot too - when my stomach eases my back follows suit. Haven't tried your cake recipe yet - hope to this weekend. I so crave some carbs.

Possi
I agree with you - I think emotional stress is a very powerful thing and can have all kinds of effects on your body.
Physical trauma is just easier to see.

Hi Tinkerbell, it's now been proved that stress of any kind is a contributor to flares in people with autoimmune diseases. That's why it's so important that we learn relaxation and meditation techniques. They are invaluable to us when experiencing times of heightened stress.

Hugs,

I definitely think AS is related to trauma. I had the occasional sports injury growing up but it wasnt until I got very sick with an infection that AS "hit me like a freight train". Took over my whole body and brought crohns disease with it. I have been dealing with it ever since.
I am curious to know what ages these things happened to ppl? I am only 23, having had 5 years of it already, it terrifies me to hear it gets worse with age.

Hi Leah,

I'm 54 and mine only came on about two years ago. Although I had some mild symptoms before that which were probably early signs of it, it really took off with a wallop after a shoulder injury. Then I had a period of huge stress for a few weeks about six months after the injury and it promptly spread from both shoulders to my hips, sternum and then gradually through many other parts of my body.

I was hit by a car and laid up for 6 weeks about 8 months prior to my diagnosis. But I can trace my AS back well before 2000 (the year of the accident) because I now know when the various flares were.

So, the accident precipitated the flare (in the pre-existing flare that had been going on for at least three years by then) that got me diagnosed, but not the disease. Still trying to pin this one down for my own case.

Warm Hugs,

Don't worry Leah. I had it since I was 16 but have been able to lead a pretty normal life until this last attack (I'm 45 now) Had some real serious attacks over the years the worst of which is still just passing - a 2 month attack. Truth is there were days when it was almost nonexistant till I was 35 - then the frequency sort of increased and I did some stupid things which caused it to really flare up - bellyflopped into the sea from 15 ft. Now doing all the right things and though I probably will never be 100% again I still feel I can get back to a state of good living.

Hey Leah, I think I may have felt the beginning of AS when I was a teenager but our family doctor told us it was "just growing pains". In my early twenties, I impressed my boss and some regional mgr. guy by doing the work of six guys by myself (unloading bark mulch with a pitch-fork). This kicked off what I might imagine as being my first "flare". I was laid up for about 3 or 4 days in total agony but then got back out there and carried on, albeit a little bit more tenderly.

There were periods where I would "put my back out" and I always attributed it to something stupid, doctors told me stuff like "you've injured the muscles on one side of your lower back and the healthy side is now over compensating"...this is when I first learned about the sacro-iliac region. Still, it was nothing I couldn't handle. I took some tylenol and muscle relaxants and carried on with my life.

It's funny that darryn mentioned the achilles tendon, since I often had trouble with that. They would just go rigid all of a sudden and it felt like a high tension cable that was about to snap. I just "walked it off" when that happened. My feet and ankles would also swell up from time to time. I remembered in basic training that at the end of the day, when I would try to remove my combat boots, I could see the impressions in my swollen skin where the laces had been tied around the boots.

None of this was ever a problem, just some annoying things I had to deal with from time to time, just like everyone else. I thought of it all as preventable and if I were smarter about the way I worked, all of it could be avoided.

Then at the age of 36, I "put my back out" at work and everything went to hell. It's been a steady decline since then and it's pretty scary, I have to admit. It also isn't the norm, most people have flares that come and go and I like to imagine that there will come a day when a "remission" hits me just as quick and out of the blue...who knows?

Although there are so many similarities between our stories, there are also many, many major differences. This disease is hard to pin down and everyone's journey is different. Don't let other people's tales frighten you, just take it all with a grain of salt and try to learn from their mistakes.

Being young is an advantage, you have time to prevent the kinds of problems that plague the older generations. Don't waste your youth worrying about the future - take full advantage of these precious years and live life to it's fullest!

Chris