Abstract： Ankylosing spondylitis(AS) is mainly a chronic and progressive inflammatory autoimmune disease， which belongs to impediment disease in Chinese medicine. In western medicine，the disease is mainly treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs，immunosuppressive agents and antirheumatic drugs，but it can only control the symptoms and it is easy to recur after drug withdrawal. The external treatment of Chinese medicine in treating AS has the advantages of simple operation and significant curative effect. The treatment methods include the acupuncture therapies such as fire needling and pricking bloodletting， the moxibustion therapies like long- snake moxibustion， thunder- fire moxibustion and indirect moxibustion， as well as iontophoresis， fumigation and point application. The related literature in recent years was summarized in order to provide clinical reference for treatment of AS.