The results of this review suggest that an individual home-based or supervised exercise program is better than no intervention ; that supervised group physiotherapy is better than home exercises ; and that combined inpatient spa-exercise therapy followed by group physiotherapy is better than group physiotherapy alone
BACKGROUND Ankylosing spondylitis ( AS ) is a chronic , inflammatory rheumatic disease .
Physiotherapy is considered an important part of the overall management of AS .
OBJECTIVES To summarise the available scientific evidence on the effectiveness of physiotherapy interventions in the management of AS .
Improvement of the clinical outcome in Ankylosing spondylitis by balneotherapy.
AIMS This study is design ed to show the efficacy of balneotherapy and balneotherapy ( BT ) + nonsteroid antiinflammatory drug ( NSAID ) use in Ankylosing spondylitis ( AS ) patients . METHODS In this prospect i ve study , BT , BT+ NSAID and NSAID therapy in 61 patients with AS were evaluated by ASAS core set . BT  group ( 21 patients ) was treated only with BT for 20 min , once a day , 5 days a week , over a period of 3 weeks . BT+NSAID group ( 20 patients ) was treated with 1000 mg naproxen as well as BT . NSAID group ( 20 patients ) was treated with 1000 mg naproxen . All of the participants did respiratory and postural exercises for 20 min a day and for the whole study period . Each patient was evaluated on admission ( before treatment ) , at the end of the therapy and 6 months after the treatment . RESULTS At the end of the study , statistically significant improvement was observed in all the clinical parameters of the patients in BT ( G1 ) , BT+NSAID ( G2 ) and NSAID ( G3 ) groups . This significant symptomatic and clinical improvement was maintained even 6 months after the treatment . The changes from baseline to follow up were similar in G1 and G2 except duration of morning stiffness ( DMS ) and chest expansion ( CE ) . Improvements in CE and DMS were better in G1 and G2 , respectively . Improvements observed in G1 and G2 were superior to the improvements observed in G3 for the variables of morning pain , nocturnal pain , DMS , global well being of the patient , occiput-wall distance , CE , finger to floor distance and functional index . In Schober test , improvement observed in G1 was statistically superior to G3 . CONCLUSION We concluded that BT can be suggested as an effective symptomatic treatment modality in patients with AS . Furthermore , sufficient improvement in clinical parameters can be obtained by BT alone
The results of this review suggest that an individual home-based or supervised exercise program is better than no intervention ; that supervised group physiotherapy is better than home exercises ; and that combined inpatient spa-exercise therapy followed by group physiotherapy is better than group physiotherapy alone
BACKGROUND Ankylosing spondylitis ( AS ) is a chronic , inflammatory rheumatic disease .
Physiotherapy is considered an important part of the overall management of AS .
OBJECTIVES To summarise the available scientific evidence on the effectiveness of physiotherapy interventions in the management of AS .