Objective: To probe into a reasonable therapy for ankylosing spondylitis. Methods: 90 cases of ankylosing spondylitis at active stage were randomly divided into a simple western medicine group （group A）

an acupuncture plus western medicine group （group B） and a compound sulfer moxibustion tablet plus western medicine group （group C）

30 cases in each group. They were treated for 3 therapeutic courses

2 months constituting a course. Results: The sign index of sacro-iliilis

Schober test

occipital wall test

finger-ground distance after treatment in group A

B and C improved significantly （P<0. 05 or P<0. 01）

and there were significant differences in the different values of the above 4 indexes before and after treatment in group B and C compared with group A; There were very significant changes in morning rigidity duration

the number of peripheral joints with swelling and pain

erythrocyte sedimentation rate（ESR） and C-reactive protein （CRP） before and after treatment in the 3 groups （P<0. 01）. Conclusion: The therapeutic effects of both the medical moxibustion combined with western medicine and acupuncture combined with western medicine on ankylosing spondylitis are better than that of simple western medicine. The medical moxibustion is readily accepted due to no trauma-pain.