Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic, inflammatory rheumatic disease with an unclear etiology which causes back pain and affects the functionality of axial skeleton. Besides the effect upon axial skeleton, the disease also affects the peripheral joints. In most patients, tenuous affection of peripheral joints occurs however, in some others the disease causes impaired spinal mobility and articular instability. This causes proximal girdle muscles and trunk muscles of the patients to be exposed to excessively stress and in conclusion deformities develop. Maximum force generated by a muscle or muscle group directly effects the physical ability of an individual, and manual muscle dynamometers are used to directly evaluate the muscle strength. In this manner the investigators aim to evaluate trunk and proximal girdle muscles' powers in male patients with ankylosing spondylitis and analyze the correlation between muscle powers, and functionality and disease activity.
This study evaluates how the trunk and proximal girdle muscles are affected in male patients with ankylosing spondylitis, compared to healthy controls.