Yes it is from your AS. If you can take Valium, it works better than any muscle relaxer or Lyrica. I also take Excedrin Tension headache medicine too and alternate them. I don't take the Valium everyday because it gives me headaches. I was advised by my Dr. To visit a massage therapist as often as I could so my muscles wouldn't knot up and get tight. You can use pressure point technique also where the knots are and yes, it will hurt but it will make it better. I hope this info will help you. Happy New year and get to feeling better.

I have had this problem for the last couple of months. It has been suggested to me that I have allergic muscles. I have allergies and see an allergist regularly. He has not heard of allergic muscles however. I will try going off of Dairy. I generlay don't consume much in that line but lately I have been eating ice-cream more often in the evenings. I also have Polymyositis but my arthritis dr. Believes that I am in remission from Polymyositis and this is something completely different.

www.triggerpointbook.com/

I get knots like that all of the time, it seems! I purchased a back knobber to use for the knots or trigger points. I bought the book about the trigger point method along with the back knobber tool. I don't know how I found out about it, but it has been wonderful for me. You can find out about it at the website above. Hope you get relief.

PS: Right now you can help yourself by lying on the floor with a tennis ball or a small hard 'super ball'. I don't really know if that term will make sense to a younger reader. It's a term or product name from the late 1960s to mid-'70s used for the balls made of soft plastic molded into a very small ball that bounces very high. Put the ball under you around the point where it hurts. Roll around until you get some type of relief.

I have the same issue--most recently in my neck, stretching down through the middle of my back. My back muscles have always been "hard like a concrete wall", but this latest episode has made turning my neck quite difficult and sleep quality has dropped. Looking at starting PT/massage treatments, but wondering if anyone taking Celebrex has had success with a muscle relaxant to loosen things up.

Yep, all kinds of tight muscles that cause problems.  My upper back/neck area is hard like a concrete wall, and I've been seeing a physical therapist/massage therapist 2x/week to try to work through some of the knots and tension.

I take Enbrel, Lyrical, Mobic, and Cymbalta along with Soma (muscle relaxant) and morphine sulfate.   Even with all of that I still have tons of knots and tension that hasn't gone away in the last 10 years.   It's a work in progress!  Sigh.

Have you tried some basic yoga stretches on a daily basis to keep the muscles loose altogheter - i am finding that yoga and pilates is really helping me - rather than medicaition

Marcia, thanks for the website.  Very useful.  I get the knots and I use a Flector patch to help reduce the inflammation.  It is prescribed by my doctor and it seem to work most of the time.

I get bad tight muscles in my shoulders and have a muscle relaxant from my doc to take at night to help to relax enough  to get comfy enough to sleep

Tight muscles can be caused by a lot of problems. I take vicodin, valium and zanaflex and it seems to help a lot with the stiffness and pain. It dosnt give me any side effects either except that they make me a bit tired, but they help keep me going at the same time.

I have fibromyalgia along with as. I have some one rub it if im not to sensitive to the touch!i also use heat