Getting My Diagnosis

Do I have ankylosing spondylitis (AS)?

AS is a form of inflammatory arthritis. The information in this section helps you identify whether your back pain may be inflammatory and explains some of the key terms used, including spondyloarthritis and axial spondyloarthritis.

Next steps explains what you should do if you suspect you have inflammatory back pain.

AS can be difficult to diagnose. To find out more about the difficulties of diagnosing AS click here to listen to podcasts from a patient and from Dr Andrew Keat, consultant rheumatologist.

Inflammatory Arthritis

You may have inflammatory back pain if you answer yes to at least 4 of the 5 statements below.

Back pain of more than 3 months duration is inflammatory if:

• Age at onset less than 40 years.
• Insidious* onset.
• Improvement with exercise.
• No improvement with rest.
• Pain at night (with improvement on getting up).

* It started slowly: it did not come on suddenly.

ASAS Criteria (Sieper J Et al Ann Rheum Disease 2009;68:784-8)