Arthritis

The most common complaint when it comes to arthritis is pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints. This can be the fingers, hands, toes, feet, ankles, knees, wrists, shoulders, hips and spine. And it doesn’t have to be ‘full blown’ arthritis before we start to experience this sort of discomfort. Arthritis is a word taken from Greek, and literally means ‘Joint-Inflammation’. This inflammation can affect one or more joints, depending on the type of arthritis and the chronic nature or severity of the condition.

There are many types of arthritis, including:

• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Ankylosing spondylitis
• Gout

Psoriatic arthritis

The ancient Ayurvedic texts describe two basic types of arthritis that correspond with osteoarthritis (Sandhigata Vata) and rheumatoid arthritis (Ama Vata). It is important to remember when considering any disease from an Ayurvedic perspective, that it is not just the disease that is treated, it is the person. Every person is treated as a unique case, and many variables are taken into account to ensure that a treatment program is specifically tailored for them as an individual.

In general, an Ayurvedic treatment protocol that mainly focuses on detoxifying the system, increasing the digestive fire, reducing inflammation and pacifying any imbalanced dosha that is related to the arthritis.  A very general pathology of arthritis may look something like this:  Vata becomes aggravated due to improper diet and lifestyle habits.  This leads to improper digestion or a low digestive fire (Agni).  The poor digestion then leads to the build-up of toxins in the colon. The deranged Vata along with the toxins begin to accumulate in the colon and eventually absorb into the circulation where they flow freely through the system. From the blood stream, they then find their way into the joint cavities, accumulating further here. This toxic accumulation eventually leads to pain, stiffness, stagnation, inflammation, swelling and degeneration of the tissue.