Question: Did Richard III have ankylosing spondylitis or something else? Why was his spine so weirdly shaped?

Richard III had scoliosis much like i do, only much much worse than I do. This means that as well as curving in an S shape up and down, the spine curves a little sideways. How much determines how bad the scoliosis is. In my case the angle is not very great, so i didnt need any ttreatment as a child to prevent it getting worse, or to try and fix it. It does mean that I get a sore back a lot though. Scoliosis is discovered when you are a child. often at a visit to the doctors class, or during ballet/swim gym class, when you bend over with your knees straight and you can see your spine along your back. It can get worse until you are fully grown, so doctors keep an eye on it, and if it is getting worse (they measure it by X-rays) they will put you in a back brace and in extreme case, surgery is required.

In Richard III’s case, they did not know about scoliosis or how to treat it and he must have had a severe case, leading to a very strong curve making him shorter.

I dont know if there were any signs of ankylosing spondylitis, so i’ll leave that to katelin to answer as she’s the expert on that!