Spinal care is of pivotal importance in Ayurveda and is considered to be the one of the most important indicators of overall health of any individual. Impairment of the spinal column can be due to some kind of degeneration, trauma/ injuries, infections, accidents or age related changes etc.
Degenerative issues like rheumatoid arthritis, spondylolisthesis, vertebral tumours, sciatica, and others like myelopathy, radiculopathy, osteoporosis, scoliosis etc all fall under spinal disorders. To consider some of the most common spinal disorders being treated through Ayurveda:
-
Lumbar lordosis
-
Lumbar spondylitis
-
Cervical spondylitis
-
Lower back pain
-
IVDP – intra vertebral disc prolapse
-
Slipped disc
-
Disc bulge
Neuromuscular presentations of the spinal disorders can be seen with symptoms like sosha (degeneration), stambha (stiffness), shula (pain), numbness, tingling sensation, radiating pain, inflammation/ soreness, limited range of movement etc
Ayurvedic view:
The pain at a particular site is attributed to the disturbance of vata dosha, but according to Ayurveda, spinal disorders are caused by the vitiation of all the 3 doshas and combination of the three doshas present itself in different kinds of pain. Due to the vitiation of the tridoshas, asthi and majja dhatus are also vitiated leading to bone degeneration.
Treatments:
The primary goal of ayurvedic treatment is to trace the root cause and heal the same, in case of spinal disorders, a systematic symptomatic management is targeted, reducing inflammation, hydrating the joints, relieving the pain and then managing the degeneration as well. A combination of external treatments like vasthi, kati vasthi, svedana, lepanam, taila dhara, podikkizhi, ilakkizhi, nhavarakkizhi, marma therapy combined with internal medications that are anti-inflammatory, muscle/ bone nourishing to manage the degeneration are prescribed.