Morning stiffness usually recovers on its own after a few minutes to a few hours, but complete self-healing is difficult to achieve as long as the primary disease does not resolve. Some of the more common primary diseases that cause morning stiffness are ankylosing spondylitis, osteoarthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, carpal tunnel syndrome and myofibrillar tissue inflammation, which can only be effectively controlled or cured by patients after regular treatment in hospital.