Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group I'm Short-er!

I feel like I've gained 2 inches in the last 3 weeks and I bet I can gain about 2 more. I need it bad cause I'm only 5'4. Part of the reason I don't play ball anymore. I truly love basketball but I'm not willing to throw my body into people in the paint. Tennis is even more fun technically, don't have to get beat up and most importantly you control your own destiny. Stand tall, it feels unbelievable!

This is my biggest fear and it makes me pretty depressed. I haven't lost any height yet and have near perfect posture, but I feel like its hard to avoid the stooping. I am 6ft now and am the tallest I've ever been.

It is hard to avoid stooping. I've got a Stand Tall bracelet from SAA, which I hope will remind me to sit or stand up straighter. I actually got an inch or so taller, back up to my original adult height, after being diagnosed, treated and starting to do some stretches for my AS. But my posture is still not great, especially when I'm sore or tired.

I do stand upright. Years of martial arts training on top of my mother not letting me stoop while a child
Maybe that's why my spine twisted sideways (scoliosis) instead of getting a stoop?
I do lean forward at the waist though. When standing with my back to a wall, my back doesn't touch all the way. I'm at a forward incline without a stoop.
Sometimes, I have to walk with my hips pushed forward in order for my back to be straight and keep looking forward. otherwise, I would be looking at the ground with my back straight

I think it's less about trying to do it and having the lack of inflammation which enables your joints the ability to sit back like that, esp your upper back joints

It's part of the natural course of AS and is what happens as more inflammation gets deposited.

This doesn't happen long after Spondy becomes aggressive. The good thing is is if it hasn't happened yet then you would have less disease to extinguish which I wish was my case.

The other thing is it is similar to other types of inflammation.

That's interesting. My lower back xray done when I was diagnosed said I had scoliosis too. There was no mention of scoliosis in my previous xray done when the back pain first hit in the mid 1990's so it is something that has developed along with the calcification and bits of fusion etc, but I wasn't sure whether it was associated with the AS or just a bonus...

i don't know if you;re joking but I'd like to know how you did it.
I hang from a pull-up bar in a doorway a few times a day, that really makes things crackle, but it would appear I'm losing height.