| Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a progressively chronic joint disease, which involves axial skeleton and leads to pain and disability. It is commonly seen in adolescent, mainly involving the sacroiliac joint, hip and spine, and with extra-articular manifestation. It is characterized by inflammation of the tendon and ligament attachment points at the early stage, then the destruction of the joint bone, fibrosis of cartilage and ligaments, and heterotypic ossification. It causes spinal joint stiffness, and eventually leads to disability. In our country, the incidence of AS is about 0.3%, which is one of the most common clinical rheumatological diseases. The peak age incidence is from 31 to 60 years, and the prevalence in men is 2 -3 times higher than in women. The average onset age in men is earlier than in women. Osteoporosis is one of the most common complications of AS, which is described as systemic skeleta1 disease and a reduction of bone composition, leading to the increase of the bone fragility and the fracture risk. Its incidence is 50-92%, and 35% percent of patients can happen vertebral compression fractures caused by osteoporosis. At present, There is an obvious limitation that the treatments of AS mainly occupied by western medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine can fully compensate the shortage. The combination of Chinese and western medicine to block bone loss is expected to be the new idea for the treatment of AS, and provides a new method. |