Musculoskeletal Disorders and Ayurveda

Musculoskeletal disorders are greatly difficult and painful aches in the joints and the muscles. The person loses the strength in the hand and also has a lot of stiffness and swelling. Alongwith this there is a general pain in the forearms, wrists, neck, elbows, and the back. The motion is lesser in the neck, shoulder and the back. The vision is blurred and there is a lot of tingling and aching too. The person loses colour in the regions that are affected and there are headaches caused due to tension stress and other ailments.

Why does a person get a musculoskeletal disorder? The reasons are many. It could either be a wrong posture due to sitting in front of the computer. It could be due to lack of support in the back while working. It could be because the person is in the same position for a long time. It could be due to the muscles stretching completely in the ligaments, tendons and muscles. Sometimes over activity leads to a pain in the musculoskeletal joints. So actions like bending and lifting and other such postures could lead to this disorder.

Osteoarthritis is a joint disease of the degenerative kind. It is due to a number of abnormal functioning in the joints alongwith the bone and the articular cartilage. Osteoarthritis is a condition where the cartilage begins to wear out. In normal people, the cartilage is a cushion between the joints and the bones. When it begins to wear out, it causes an inflammation and there is a lot of pain in the joints. The movement is thus restricted and the main regions where you can see osteoarthritis is in the knees, fingers, hands, and the big toe. There could be a total lack of mobility or sometimes it could just be a simple nagging pain on moving the part.

The main symptoms for osteoarthritis are stiffness, tenderness, locking and sometimes even an effusion. The joints ache, and there is lot of grating and bony growths in the joints of the fingers, elbow, low back etc.

Ayurveda is a good cure for musculoskeletal disorders like osteoarthritis. In this form of treatment, the degenerative process happens due to an imbalance in the vata dosha. This is the main factor that manages movements. An increased vata dosha means the ageing process has ben hastened. So the soft tissue gets degenerated and this causes pain. The soft tissues are all Kapha predominant. They maintain the strength and stability of the joint. Due to an increased vata dosha, the dryness or guna increases. The kapha then gets vitiated due to its degradation. There is lot of inflammation thus making the joint tender.

For this external lepanas are suggested. Oral medication is had for reducing the inflammation. When the inflammation gets lesser, then the supporting muscles should be massaged and loosened. This is to eradicate the stiffness and for repositioning the bones with the help of external heat modalities and bandages. These are used for enhancing blood circulation and for rebuilding the degenerated soft tissue.

The oral medications reduce the inflammation and also the stiffness of the joints and help in promoting the cartilage and the tissue growths.

For treating this condition, lepanas, abhyangam, tractions, katee vasti, panchakarma procedures, physiotherapy, diet and yoga asanas and a proper lifestyle management is needed.

Then you have Rheumatoid arthritis which is another musculoskeletal problem. This is a disorder which affects many organs and tissues. It attacks the synovial joint and is an autoimmune reaction causing the joints to get inflamed. It causes the patients to have antibodies in the blood that starts destroying the tissues within the body.

In Ayurveda rheumatoid arthritis is called as Aam vata and vatoshonita. It is said that it is caused due to aama meaning improperly digested food. Aama means that which is not ripe. This aama travels within the body with the vata which is the one which decides the movements of the body. If Vata has channels that are closed then tit leaves the aama there and this is what causes a lot of diseases.

Ayurvedic treatment for rheumatoid arthritis is done with the aim of stopping any further deterioration of the joint. This is done by bringing the dosha to normal. This frees the areas of inflammation and thus helps in eliminating the impurities and toxins. More blood flows and the area become relaxed. For this snehanam or use of medicated lubricants is used. Then there is a local fomentation or swedananam, and lepanam which is local medical applications. RAktamosham and vata anulomanam alongwith dahanam and shamanam is done.

Thus musculoskeletal disorders and Ayurveda are related intimately and it is a good way of treating these problems.