7 Dec 2024
Management of lower back pain in Ayurveda
LOWER BACK PAIN
Lower back pain is one of the most common complaints affecting millions of people worldwide. It is a prevalent condition that afflicts about 70% of people in developing countries at some point in their lifetime.While conventional medicine often focuses on symptom relief, Ayurveda—a traditional system of medicine that has been practiced for thousands of years—offers a more holistic approach to both alleviating pain and addressing its root causes.
Causes of Low Back Pain
The causes of low back pain can be classified into common causes and uncommon causes.
1) Common cause of Low back pain (indirect cause)
These account for 8 out of 10 cases.
The common varieties of low back pain are muscular strains, ligament sprains and disk diseases.
The causes for these maladies are,
Poor posture habits
Heavy physical work: prolonged periods of static work postures, heavy lifting, twisting, and vibration of spine.
Psychosocial factors: stress, depression, work related factors such as dissatisfaction and monotonous work
Unaccustomed lifting of weight
Improper work culture and work habits
Smoking and Drug abuse
Osteoporosis
Obesity (body mass index greater than 30 kg/m)
2) Uncommon causes (direct causes)
â–ª Causes related to spine- These include condition like infection, Tumors, IVDP, lumbar spondylosis, Lumbar canal stenosis.
â–ª Causes not related to spine -These include problems in other system like genitourinary tract, gastrointestinal tract, prolapsed of uterus, etc.
LOWER BACK PAIN IN AYURVEDA
Ayurvedic classical terms such as Katishoola, Kati Graha, Trika Shoola and Gridhrasi are used for describing the low back pain. The pain localized to low back can be considered under Katishoola and pain along with stiffness are included under Katigraha and Pain radiating to lower limb are considered under Gridhrasi.
AYURVEDIC MANAGEMENT OF LOWER BACK PAIN
Acharyas have mentioned that there is no Shoola(pain) without the vitiation of Vata.
Hence the treatment modalities which are mentioned for pacifying Vata can also be adopted in low back pain. This includes both EXTERNAL & INTERNAL treatments.
1.Snehana
2.Swedana
3.Mrudu Samshodana / Anulomana
4.Basti
5.Shaman Aushadhi
