Spondylitis

Symptoms

Spondylitis is the medical term for inflammed spinal facet joints. This may be due to an acute flare up of osteoarthritis or due to other inflammatory arthritic diseases including Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, Psoriatic Arthritis, Juvenile Arthritis, Reactive Arthritis and Lyme Disease.

The symptoms can range from mild to severe and may become chronic or even disabling. They vary depending on the region of the spine which is affected but generally cause pain that varies from day to day. The pain is often worse on one side of your body.

The pain is relieved by rest although there may be stiffness first thing in the morning and often the problem is made worse by prolonged sitting or standing in one position.

You may have pain in other areas of your body - typically fingers, hips or knees. There may be radiating pain causing headache or pain across your shoulders and down your arms from cervical (neck) spondylosis or over your buttocks and down your legs from lumbar (low back) spondylosis. Sometimes these same areas may feel weak or tingling. Lumbar spondylosis may cause sciatica due to irritation of the nerve roots, which emerge from the spinal cord at the level of the problem, causing pain to refer to the buttock, groin or hamstring region. In other cases, the pain may be felt in the front of the thighs.. There may be pain on any movement of your neck or back, but often the worst pain is leaning backwards or side-bending.