Ageing is an inevitable phenomenon which on one hand brings with itself years of experience and knowledge but an ageing body becomes agile and vulnerable to various issues. Even an otherwise healthy individual, faces some inevitable age-related issues such as joint pains, eye-sight issues, physiological problems associated with some genetic factors or comorbidity etc.
Some of the common Geriatrics issues that one could observe:
– Diabetes and it’s associated complications/ complaints – neuropathy, hypoglycaemia,
– Cardio-vascular risk related: Hypertension, high levels of cholesterol, heart diseases
– Age related respiratory diseases
– eye sight problems
– hearing difficulty
– memory problems
– imbalance
– incontinence
– joints problems
– age related neurological diseases
– insecurity and other social concerns
Ayurvedic view:
Geriatric care begins post 65, and by this time, the vata dosha becomes the predominant dosha in the body, lowering the metabolic rate (agni) which inturn leads to ksaya avastha or degeneration and consequent disability/ dysfunction.
Treatments:
Besides an ongoing existing issue, if any, ayurvedic treatments for this age group aims at restoring an appropriate lifestyle for the individual with an adequate dinacharya, balanced diet and exercising. Sodhana chikitsa, medhna rasyanam – esp in presentation of psychosomatic conditions such as depression tc, pancakarma – abhyanga, swedana, mild vamana virechana, vasti, pizhichili, nasya rasayan are some of the commonly used combination of treatments