I apologize in advance for the length of this question but I want to give a full picture to see if I have ankylosing spondylitis or something else or if I m just imagining it. I m a 33 year old male, married father of two boys who are 5 & 2. I m a stay at home dad so I don t have a career moving or lifting heavy objects. Prior to that I worked in a cabinet/furniture shop which had some heavy lifting. 3 years ago I threw out my lower back after trying to pick up a toy on the ground. I bent down to pick up the toy and couldn t get up again. I was stuck on hands and knees and could barely move to a fetal position. I couldn t move without excruciating pain going all the way up my spine. The pain was in my lower left back. I went to the e.r. and received rest and medication. I had already been going to a chiropractor about 6 months before I threw out my back for relief with neck and lower back pain. The neck pain was likely caused from poor posture at a computer. When I threw out my back I kept going to the chiropractor and have continued to go once a month ever since. I initially received some relief but I feel like I m not getting better. I stretch fairly often (not as much as my chiropractor says I should) but it doesn t feel like it s doing anything and I still have neck and lower back pains (my initial reason for seeing the chiropractor to begin with). The back and neck pain eventually went away but now they re back and I ve been VERY careful to not aggravate them again. I would think that after 3 years of regular visits I would be feeling better over what is basically a back injury. I wake up most mornings with a stiff spine. Many of those mornings my lower back is so stiff/sore I can t bend to get my socks on. It goes away after walking around the house for a little bit. I used to run for exercise a lot but now whenever I run I have a lot of back pain the next day. 2 days ago I ran 2 miles in 24 minutes (very slow compared to what I ran a decade ago) and did about 20 minutes of stretching afterwards. I awoke the next morning with stiffness and within 30 minutes I had very sharp neck pains. I ve been treating it with heat and Excedrin Migraine (I also get migraines but not as frequently as when I was in my early 20 s). It helps a little but even now as I type, 36 hours after the neck pain started, it hasn t subsided much. And my thoracic spine area is feeling very tight, like it needs to pop for some relief. I feel tired a lot. I don t know if it is fatigue or not. It s my body that feels tired. I can read a book all day or do some other mental activity just fine but running errands or exercise feels like work. I don t sleep well because I can t find a comfortable position for my back for more than an hour so I wake up at least once every night to change positions. It s been like that for at least 8+ years. Occasionally I have a tight feeling in my chest and receive some relief when I pop my sternum. I have to push my chest out and draw my shoulders back to do this. I try to stay conscious of my posture throughout the day but it s very tiring to keep my head up and shoulders back. I don t want to say I have shortness of breath but I don t really know how else to describe it. I feel like I get enough oxygen but if I take a deep breath it feels... tight. Mostly around the sternum. I don t know if bad posture can do that or not. For many years I used to get sporadic, numb pains deep in my butt cheeks but they have largely gone away now. Basically, I m frustrated. I m fairly young but I m afraid to rough-house with my sons because I m already in pain most of the time and don t want it to worsen. I thought all these aches and pains through the last decade or so were just normal parts of aging but now I m not so sure. I have an appointment with my doctor this Tuesday afternoon but I wanted another perspective before bringing this stuff up. I m going for a standard physical and allergy test (because I have this night time cough that won t go away). So, what questions/info should I present to my doctor on Tuesday to get the best help with this stuff? Or should I just tell him all this stuff?