Rwanda: How to Spot Ankylosing Spondylitis Before It 'Steals' Your Mobility

Rwanda: How to Spot Ankylosing Spondylitis Before It 'Steals' Your Mobility

Thirty year-old James (not his real name), a young energetic man, started suffering from backache. Initially, it was in the lower back, he presumed it was due to continuous desk work for long hours. But as the pain shifted to the mid and upper back as well, he decided to see a bone specialist. After a clinical examination and some investigations, he was informed that he had ankylosing spondylitis.

Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic ailment, which goes beyond a back pain, in fact it can have a great impact on the quality of life of patients, explains the Spanish Society of Vertebral Column (GEER). It affects approximately 2 out of every 1,000 people in Spain, so it suffers in the country around 100,000 and usually manifests in young people between the ages of 15 and 30, more in men than in women. The inflammatory process, which affects th…