Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2003 , Vol 49 , Num 6

Ankilozan Spondilitte Fizik Tedavi Ajanlarının Yaşam Kalitesi ve Emosyonel Durum Üzerine Etkisi

Hidayet Sarı 1 ,Bahar Çakmak 2 ,Günay Can 3
1 İstanbul Üniversitesi Cerrahpaşa Tıp Fakültesi, Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, İstanbul, Türkiye
2 İstanbul Üniversitesi Cerrahpaşa Tıp Fakültesi, Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, İstanbul
3 İstanbul Üniversitesi Cerrahpaşa Tıp Fakültesi, Halk ve Çevre Sağlığı Anabilim Dalı, İstanbul

Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology causing progressive bony fusion of the spine. In the last years quality of life quaestionnaires besides clinical and labaratory evaluations are used for follow-up and assessment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of physical therapy agents in AS patients on quality of life and emotional status. Twenty-three male and seven female patients diagnosed as AS according to Modified New York, ESSG (European Spondyloart ropaties Study Group) and Amor criteria were  included in this study.  Patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first group received medical and exercise treatment (MT group) while the second group (PT group) additionally was treated with physical therapy agents (ultrasound and infrared). Quality of life was evaluated by acute form of SF-36, Nottingham Health Profile (NHP)  while emotional status was evaluated by Beck Depression Scale (BDS) before 2 and 4 weeks after treatment. Results were compared statiscally. BDS, NHP and SF-36  for pain, general health and functional role difficulty parameters showed statisticaly  significant diffence in  the PT group  as compared to the MT group.
As a conclusion the use of  physical therapy agents in the treatment of AS shows positive effects not only on pain but also life quality and emotional status according to the used indexes.

Keywords : AS, physical therapy agents, quality of life and emotional status