In China’s long history of 5,000 years, there was a long time when people could not stand up straight as human beings, and that was because of the feudal rule. However, China is becoming stronger today, there are still so many people who can not “straighten their backs” and live a painful life with a stooped back, why? Because of the pain of the disease – ankylosing spondylitis. What kind of disease is ankylosing spondylitis? Why does it cause people to live hunched over and unable to hold up their backs? Ankylosing spondylitis means a fusion of the joints in the former and a curved spine in the latter. Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic progressive systemic inflammatory disease that affects mainly the medial joints, such as the sacroiliac joints, hip joints and spine. The common symptom is stiffness or pain in the low back, which may be relieved by activity. In advanced stages, ankylosis and deformity of the spine may occur, resulting in severely impaired function. This is an image that describes the advanced stage of ankylosing spondylitis.