Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Can you turn your head? : phase 2

What's attracting attention exactly? The position your neck is fused in or its immobility?

In my case it is definitely the position. My head is tilted downward further than most people can tilt their heads. I also lost a lot of height in my neck.

I understand.

For now my neck is not fusing and it's in normal position only I lost some ROM don't know why...

Keep up the stretches Wilhelm. From all accounts actively exercising and putting all your joints through as full a range of movement as possible every single day is going to be one of the best things you can do. Its the old "move it or fuse it" slogan. I got a bit lax on my arm stretches recently, and last night just realised that I have a bit of limitation again. Going to have to work on that a bit more. My neck rotation isn't actually that bad either, because I have always done neck stretching movements (mostly to try and relieve pain, as that has been a bad area for me). In contrast, I guess I wasn't that bothered about being able to touch my toes, and now I can barely touch my knees. Who knows how much better flexibility I could have had if I'd got onto spinal movement stretching exercises much earlier.

Just saw the neck Dr. for the first time (AS diag. in '81). Lotta fusing and obvious forward curve. Can't think about surgical intervention till my chin hits my chest and even at that he won't do anything if I make it to 70ish. Advised against mountain biking and "Zoo Bombing". Spoilsport.
My last surgery (L hip revision) really set me back as I couldn't do NSAIDS or Enbrel for 124 days. Very limited ROM that I do an awesome job of ignoring, and really don't care what others find visually unusual. We generally know who the kind ones are and lord help the unkind. I will continue to overfill my glass and use a saucer.

I stretched for years and years but still fused. You should do it though to help with the pain that can occur from lost of ROM. Don't go over the point where it hurts though.