The service aims to provide early assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for patients with axial spondyloarthritis. Patients can be referred to either Barnet Hospital or Edgware Community Hospital.

Useful resources

• Back Pain Series webinar: a live webinar recording of Professor Hasan Tahir and Mrs Sian Bamford discussing optimising the diagnosis and management of patients with back pain with a focus on axial spondyloarthritis
• patient podcasts: eight short podcasts discussing questions frequently asked by axial spondyloarthritis patients
• axial spondyloarthritis patient education information: please see a PDF in Downloads.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusions

The service is open for patients over the age of 16 who experience four out of five of the following criteria:

• back pain which starts during adolescence or early adulthood (45 years old or younger)
• back pain that is gradual on onset
• back pain which improves with exercise
• back pain which does not improve with rest
• back pain at night which improves on getting up.

The service does not ask for HLA-B27 or CRP blood tests or spinal/ sacroiliac joint x-rays or MRI scans

How to Refer