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OSTEOARTHRITIS

By Dr. Arun Kheria


Osteoarthritis is the most common cause of chronic joint pain, which is caused by wear and tear on joint cartilage or by degeneration of the cartilage in joints. Osteoarthritis not only reduces elasticity and lubrication in the joints, but also weakens muscles and loosens ligaments. This degeneration of cartilage can occur in any joints, but is most common in the knees, hips & hands.

MAIN SYMPTOMS OF OSTEOARTHRITIS
  • Swelling
  • Stiffness
  • Tenderness
  • Pain in the joints
  • Limitations of movement
  • creaking, crackly sound that is heard when the joint moves
  • feeling of warmth in the joint

CAUSES OF OSTEOARTHRITIS
  • Ageing
  • Obesity
  • Not sleeping regularly
  • Suppressing natural urges (burping, urinating, stool, gas, etc.)
  • Exposure to severe cold and dry weather
  • Excessive consumption of dry or cold food
  • Excessive travel
  • Standing for a long periods without much movement
  • Over exertion
  • Lifting heavy weight
  • Physical injuries



AYURVEDIC OVERVIEW OF OSTEOARTHRITIS

In Ayurveda, Osteoarthritis is described as “SANDHIVATA” (Sandhi means the joint and Vata stands for Vata Dosha). It occurs due to aggravation or increased activities of VATA DOSHA, VATA is a biological element of the body that symbolizes air or wind and is responsible for any type of movement in the body including joint movements. The qualities of Vata are dry, rough, light, cold, subtle, and mobile. Due to dry nature, it absorbs moisture from the body parts including joints and causes destruction of the cartilages and reduction in the Synovial Fluid inside the joint capsule.

Synovial fluid is a fluid-like material found in the cavities of synovial joints (knee, shoulder, and hip joints etc.). Synovial fluid reduces friction between the articular cartilage and other tissues in synovial joints to lubricate and cushion them during movement.

ROOT CAUSES OF OSTEOARTHRITIS

According to Ayurveda, Healthy, flexible joints are depends on strong digestion and metabolism. As we know, the food we eat is digested by our digestive system to produce nutrient juice. This nutrient juice absorbed by our intestine and mixed with the plasma. Plasma works as a raw material for building healthy joints and bones. It flows throughout the body like the sap in a tree, which delivers vital nutrients to the cells. The body uses these nutrients to build tissues, including joint tissue. Due to poor eating habits and weak digestion, impurities or toxins created and mixed with plasma. These toxins accumulate, circulate, and build up in the joints. This inhibits joint function, mobility, and comfort.

The Ayurvedic treatment of osteoarthritis focuses on balancing the aggravated VATA DOSHA along with strengthening digestion to create nutritional pure plasma, which is easy to assimilate and strengthening the metabolic pathways that prevent the blocking of joints by impurities or toxins and also improving the lubrication of joints.

During the treatment of osteoarthritis, we recommends customized diet and lifestyle plans to patients for balancing their VATA DOSHA and to eliminate the toxins from the body and the affected joints.

OSTEOARTHRITIS DIET & LIFESTYLE
  • Choose foods that are easy to digest and warming.
  • Eat lot of green vegetables, freshly cooked foods with sufficient quantity of ghee and oils to lubricate the dried joints.
  • Use milk that is low in fat (skimmed or semi-skimmed), and reduce the intake of dairy products.
  • Eat fresh fruits specially vitamin C containing fruits, which are full of antioxidants and helpful to reduce inflammation of joints.
  • Include spices in your diet like cumin, coriander, ginger, garlic and turmeric.
  • Eat foods containing bitter and pungent tastes, which are helpful to controls VATA DOSHA.
  • Do not withhold natural urges (burping, urinating, stool, gas, etc.)
  • Avoid Tea, Coffee, Caffeine, Alcohol, processed food, Chocolate, Fast Food, Pickles, curd etc, which are aggravating factors for osteoarthritis.
  • Avoid stress and strain.
  • Avoid over exposure to cold and windy climate.
  • Do regular physical exercises.
  • Avoid sleeping at day time.

HOME REMEDIES FOR OSTEOARTHRITIS
  • Mix two teaspoons of lemon juice and a teaspoon of honey mixed in a cup of warm water, take this water twice a day.
  • Take 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder with warm water twice a day, it is helpful to reducing inflammation of joints.
  • Mix powder of fenugreek seeds (Methi), dry ginger and turmeric in equal quantity. Take one teaspoon of this mixture twice a day with warm water.
  • Massage stiff and painful joints with sesame oil twice a day. Massage will help you to improve blood circulation, reduces inflammation, stiffness and pain of the joints.
  • Ginger Tea is also helpful to reduce inflammation, stiffness and pain of the joints.
 Ginger Tea :
  1. 6-8 thin slices of raw ginger
  2. 2 cups water
  3. ½ lime juice
  • Boil all above mentioned ingredient for 5-7 min. Now, add 1-2 tsp honey (according to taste). Drink this hot tea twice a day.
  • Mix paste of four peeled garlic clove to 20 grams of mustard oil and heat on low flame, for 1-2 minutes. After cooling, massage the affected joints with this oil for getting relief from pain and swelling.



ARUN AYURVEDA