Q: I am a 24 years old male diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis five years back. Eight years ago, I started experiencing pain in my hip, which was ignored. I am still suffering from it and am having pain and stiffness in the joints, which is increasing day by day. Now, I am also experiencing backache, chest pain and leg pain. Moreover, I am unable to stand straight. How can ankylosing spondylitis be treated? I have heard that there is a treatment of ankylosing spondylitis in Ayurveda.

A:Ankylosing spondylitis is a common inflammatory disease of spine seen in juveniles and young adults. It is a genetic disease like diabetes and high blood pressure. Therefore, just like these diseases, with treatment ankylosing spondylitis can also be fully controlled and you can lead a normal life but, treatment must be continued life time. The only problem is that many patients reach the proper doctor so late that by that time damage could have already occurred. It must be realised that if the damage has occured, it cannot be reversed.

I strongly recommend that you immediately contact a well trained and experienced rheuematologist (not orthopaedic surgeon - they are not trained in the evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of inflammatory spinal disease like yours). The rheuematologist will evaluate your disease for the extent of damage, the degree of disease activity and severity and then, give you appropriate treatment and other advice.

I am not aware of any scientific study that has shown any effect of alternative systems of medicines namely homoeopathy or ayurveda treatments.