Teacher gets painful lesson on arthritis


When Andrew Doyle was 27, he was suddenly crippled by back pain that made him feel like an old man instead of a young high school teacher hoping to become a father.

The pain was so intense he could not climb in and out of a car and had to learn to sleep upright to take pressure off his aching spine.

Convinced he had just a sports injury, the once keen soccer player was stunned when a blood test ordered by a specialist revealed arthritis - a type that mostly hits young men, many only in their 20s or 30s.

The condition, ankylosing spondylitis, causes inflammation and pain in the spine and usually appears before age 40, often resulting in the pain being dismissed as an injury from sport or work.

Cricket legend Michael Slater, who has battled the severe condition for many years, described the pain as like having a knife running down his back.

Mr Doyle, 31 and the father of eight-month-old Sam, said the pain appeared to come on after he was tackled heavily while playing soccer. It started causing intense pain in his lower back when he went to bed.

Thinking he must have slipped a disc in his back, he did the rounds of chiropractors, physiotherapists and acupuncturists, all of whom gave him temporary relief but the pain always came back.

But fortnightly injections of a powerful anti-inflammatory drug have meant he can now play sport and even coaches soccer.

Mr Doyle says it is like a cure but he knows he relies on the drug to keep the condition at bay.

Arthritis Australia is launching an awareness campaign about ankylosing spondylitis, which affects one in 100 people, and is calling for people to get a doctor to check out unexplained back pain.

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