Symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis mainly include systemic symptoms such as low-grade fever, malaise, etc., and local manifestations such as lower back pain and spinal stiffness, diminished thoracic dilatation, peripheral inflammation of large joints, and extra-articular skeletal pressure points.
1. Systemic symptoms: Ankylosing spondylitis is a systemic disease, and patients may have systemic symptoms such as low-grade fever, malaise, weight loss and mild anemia.
2.Local manifestations:
(1) Lower back pain and spinal stiffness: lower back pain occurs slowly, dull pain-like, unclear location, sometimes involving the buttocks. The pain can also be very severe, concentrated near the sacroiliac joints, radiating to the iliac crest, the greater trochanter of the femur and the posterior part of the femur. At first the pain is bilateral or unilateral, but after a few months it becomes bilateral with stiffness in the lower back.
(2) Decreased thoracic dilatation: As the lesion progresses toward the thoracic spine, the costovertebral joints are involved, and chest pain with radiating intercostal neuralgia occurs.
(3) Inflammation of large peripheral joints: some ankylosing spondylitis may have peripheral arthritis, with the hip joint being the most common. The shoulder joint is the second most common part. Occasionally, there are knee joint lesions. Other joints are rarely affected.
(4) Extra-articular skeletal pressure points: mainly in the thoracic-rib junction, spinous process, iliac crest, greater trochanter of the femur, tibial tuberosity, sciatic tuberosity and heel.
It is recommended that patients with ankylosing spondylitis go to the hospital in time and follow the doctor’s instructions for standardized diagnosis and treatment.