Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group AS and injuries?

Does AS attack and cause pain around old injurie sites? I read in one of Proffesor Ebringers articles that kessebella bacteria cross reacts with HLA-B27 gene and certain collagins in the body, I'm wondering if some of those collagins would be where there is scare tissue? Any thoughts anyone?

I can not speak "scientifically" to your question. But from personal experience my right hip always seemed worse than the left (although the left had its times as well). My right hip I had a basketball injury.

so my personal experience would tend to lend weight to there is some correlation (or maybe it is Osteo-arthritis).

Tim

Oh I definetely think injuries play a part in where AS attacks. I know most folks with AS have SI pain. I never had SI pain until I injured the area training in MMA. Once I did that it went through cycles (flares) of pain on and off for 10 years until I was diagnosed. Luckily thats pretty much where the pain stays for me. I did tear my right groin pretty severely and it does seem to ache a bit when I am having AS pain in my SI. Same goes for my left shoulder, (which has very little cartilage in it) but those pains are sporadic and no more than a 1-2 in level. This topic has been on my mind quite a bit since I got diagnosed. I am sure a lot of cases have a lot of pain in areas that they never hurt but I can track back any place I have ever had pain in, AS or not, to at least a pretty severe injury. Makes me wonder if I never hurt my SI if I I would have ever had SI pain and the subsequent AS diagnosis.

Chris

In my case, AS has moved into every single joint I've ever injured, and most of them were just sprains or even tendonitis. It's as if my injuries never really heal, because the AS takes over. I don't know about the collagens, but I can attest to the injury thing!

It's now in almost every joint in my body, including ones that have never been injured (jaw and SIs, for instance) but the worst ones are always the injured ones.

*hugs*
Bridge and Lentil

Hmmm oddly enough, I don't think I've ever sustained an injury other than once badly spraining an ankle when I was young... but AS has never attacked me there, thankfully.

Seriously knocking on wood as I post this!

i never had an injury until this all started at the age of 35.
since then (~10 years), tendon and ligament injuries are my life.
too often, too easily, too long to heal, all during trivial daily activities
(no skydiving or wrestling alligators or anything equally exciting )

sue

Hey Sue,... perhaps what you think of as 'injuries' are not injuries at all but ongoing sites of inflammation where immune system is randomly choosing to attack. When you next see a Rheumy, you might consider trying to erase that word from your vocab entirely. It may be a bit misleading. More accurately (from what I've read of your experience) you might say,.. I hurt here, here, here and here, for X number of days/wks/months, and for no apparent reason.

Just a thought!
mig

I've been wondering about this.

Whenever I "injure" a spot, I can always point to some increased use of that area. For instance, I developed shoulder tendinitis when I was swimming regularly. However, a normal person wouldn't get tendinitis as easily as I get it. I'm hardly a serious athlete who trains a few hours a day. I seem to "injure" myself insanely easily.

And that's where I'm confused. Am I injuring too easily, or am I developing AS symptoms in spots which are very slightly strained due due to increased use? Nobody has ever been able to answer that question for me.

Karen