Rheumatoid & Osteoarthritis - Ways Ayurveda Can Help You Deal With It!

With age, we often experience gradual wear and tear of our body parts, which leads to slow down of body functions. Wear and tear of bones and joints often make movement difficult in various parts, such as hands, hips, legs, knees, ankles, etc. Rheumatoid and osteoarthritis are a two serious and common conditions where wear and tear of the bone is significant. The pain and stiffness in the affected joints vary, but for most people, restricted movement is the main issue. The relieving news is that there are effective, natural methods in Ayurveda which are tested over centuries and used even to date.

These methods aim at improving stiffness, pain control, controlling progression of inflammation, reversal of damage (if not severe), improving range of motion, improving strength and improving overall energy levels.
Ayurveda believes that body’s health is managed with the balance between three vital elements that is vata, pitta, and kapha. Arthritis (both osteo and rheumatoid variety) is believed to be related to vata and arthritis is also known as sandhivata (sandhi meaning joint).

Treatment includes overall body treatment and focused treatment of the affected joint. Oral medicines, oils and external applicants, detoxification and rejuvenation through panchakarma, diet changes, healthy lifestyle are all part of the treatment regimen. Oil and external application on the overall body and affected joints will help lubricate the joints and will allow easy movement. This will help reduce stiffness and improve range of motion.

Dietary changes: Reduce fats, sugar, salt and alcohol. Include a lot more of fish, soy, olive oil, low-fat dairy products, broccoli, green tea, citrus fruits, whole grains, beans, garlic and nuts and seeds. In addition to protein, these have various ingredients, which are useful for bone health and act as anti-inflammatory agents.

Ayurveda For Arthritis

As per Ayurveda, Joint pains or Arthritis is caused because of suppression of agni that results in poor digestion, thus leading to accumulation of undigested wastes in body that encourages buildup of waste matter (ama). The disease is classified under three heads

1. Vata – This type of arthritis results in dryness of joints.
2. Pitta – This type of arthritis results in swollen joints where pain increase with movement of limbs
3. Kapha - This type of arthritis can be seen in body in form of stiff swollen joints. With cold feeling in joints, a bit of limb movement causes relief from pain. Some Ayurvedic processes taken by us that help in treatment include :
   • Detoxification processes that include enemas and panchakarma that remove accumulated toxic wastes and provides relief from pain
   • Ayurvedic Massage Oils (the effect of oils depends primarily on body type) where these help in removing joint stiffness and improving limb mobility

Arthritis Treatment in Kerala
Arthritis is an ailment that concerns joints of body, bones as well as muscles, causing inflammation in the parts and making patients suffer from Fatigue syndrome, Severe aches and Lack of body movement. With the increasing hold of disease, patients face suffering and are restricted in making usual body movement.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!