Ankylosing Spondylitis
The established form of axial spondyloarthritis in which inflammation has produced visible changes on X-ray, potentially reducing spinal flexibility over time.
Is this what you are experiencing?
Back pain that improves when you move and worsens when you rest is the opposite of mechanical back pain, and it is the single most useful clue to inflammatory back disease. Add morning stiffness over thirty minutes, pain that wakes you in the second half of the night, and an age of onset under 45, and axial spondyloarthritis becomes likely.
What symptoms should prompt an assessment?
You do not need to have every symptom below — and having one does not mean you have a particular disease. These are the patterns that commonly lead to a rheumatology consultation:
- Long-standing lower-back or deep hip pain.
- Morning stiffness in the back, hips or pelvis.
- Pain or stiffness that improves with movement and feels worse after rest.
- Night or early-morning pain that interrupts sleep.
- Alternating pain from one side of the hips to the other.
- Reduced spinal flexibility or difficulty bending and turning.
- Back symptoms occurring with heel pain, eye inflammation, psoriasis or bowel inflammation.
Which conditions does this cover?
Non-radiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis
An earlier or milder form of axial spondyloarthritis where X-rays remain normal but inflammation is detectable on MRI, causing the same symptoms.
Axial Spondyloarthritis
A group of inflammatory conditions affecting the spine and sacroiliac joints, causing chronic back pain and stiffness that improve with activity.
How is it diagnosed and treated?
Dr. Ashish Baweja combines a detailed clinical assessment with targeted investigations — blood tests and inflammatory markers, imaging, and where relevant procedures such as joint aspiration, nail fold capillaroscopy or biopsy — to reach an accurate diagnosis. Treatment plans follow current international (EULAR/ACR) guidelines and are personalised to your condition, lifestyle and goals, with an emphasis on achieving long-term remission and protecting quality of life.
This page is general information to help guide a consultation. It is not a diagnosis.
Book your consultation
Consult Dr. Ashish Baweja at the Institute of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Medanta – The Medicity, Gurugram.