Arthritis: Types, Symptoms, and Treatment

When it comes to the treatment part for any disease, there is no other pathy in the world that could beat our ancient Ayurveda treatment pathy.

Ayurveda treatment stands on the pillars of “स्वस्थस्य स्वास्थ्यरक्षणमातुरस्य विकार प्रशमनं च ।” that means treating the cause of disease and promoting the healthy lifestyle of a person. Ayurveda focuses on bringing back the “dhatu saamta” state that leads to a healthy body and mind overall. Its way of treatment does not revolve around only the well-being of the physical body. It also works on the mental state as Ayurveda believes that every disease emerges from “sharirik” and “mansik” doshas disturbances.

Our clinic, “Neeraj Clinic,” follows the path shown by our great Acharya’s of times and successfully treating arthritis patients from the last many years. Situated on the Shore of Ganges Rivers in Rishikesh, we are delivering the real essence of Ayurveda treatment to our arthritis patients. Before leading further, let us know about Arthritis shortly!

ARTHRITIS

The classical definition of Arthritis is “swelling and tenderness in one and more joints.” In short, we can understand it by a single term, “joint inflammation”. It is a rheumatic condition. It involves pain, stiffness and swelling in and around the joints. Certain rheumatic conditions tend to involve the immune system and internal organs too. Arthritis is more common among the age group of 50 and above, but nowadays, changing lifestyle can affect any age group.

As the disease progresses in nature, the inflammation that is swelling in the joints increases. This all ultimately led to the function abnormality, deformity in joints and lastly, destruction of joints. Scary! Yes, the disease is scary and gets worse if not treated on time.

We found the description about the disease in one of our old Vedas, “Rig-Veda”, in approx. 1500B.C. back. In the century, rishi “Madhav” wrote a full theory about Arthritis under the name “Amavata”. In 1859, British rheumatologist Alfred Baring Garrod named the disease R.A.

From the studies of “Madhav nidan”, we learned that Arthritis is a disease that is caused due to the violation of one of the most potent dosh in the body, which is “vata”. That is the reason why all Acharya’s consider Arthritis under “vata vyadhi”. Our body has three major doshas: Vata, pitta and Kapha. The equilibrium condition of these three doshas is the disease-free state of the body. Aggravation or degradation of the doshas disturbed the body and emerged from all forms of the disease.

Arthritis causes

Research has been going on for many years, but the real cause of inflammation in Arthritis is still unknown. Some scientists tried to shed light on the pathway of inflammation, but the shady cloud is still in place. The researchers take a comprehensive study by taking both ancient and modern science together in search of the cause of inflammation in Arthritis. As it is the main factor that leads to the progression of the disease. The results show that some biological agents on the body when accumulated in the joints, lead to the inflammation of a particular site.

On the other hand, Ayurveda has a more defensive approach towards it. Ayurveda tries to find out the cause of the inflammation, not just its pathway process. We learned through our scriptures that the disequilibrium in doshas that led to decrement in the body’s digestive fire is called “Agni”. Low Agni will not be sufficient in proper digestion of food which will create “aam”, undigested food in the body. Intestinal gut impaired mobility results in absorption of half undigested food and partially detoxified food. This starts the chain reaction and ultimately results in inflammation.

Arthritis general symptoms

General symptoms of Arthritis involve the joints and surrounding area. Depending on the types of Arthritis and affected joint, symptoms get altered, but the basic inflammation and stiffness is present in all forms of the disease.

• Pain

• Stiffness

• Swelling

• Redness

Inflammation

• Deformity

• Loss of function of joint

Contributing factors for Arthritis

• Heavy and large meals

• Heavy exercise and physical activity

• Allergens food consumption

• Imbalanced physical activity like trauma and sedentary lifestyle

• Inflammatory bowel disease

• Stress, emotional disturbances and other physiological problems

• Family history

Types of Arthritis

• Ankylosing spondylitis
• Gout
• Juvenile idiopathic Arthritis
• Osteoarthritis
• Psoriatic Arthritis
• Reactive Arthritis
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Septic Arthritis
• Thumb arthritis

Among all, the most common forms of Arthritis is osteoarthritis, gout and rheumatoid Arthritis. Other forms of Arthritis are also present, but the number of patients is less comparatively.

OSTEOARTHRITIS

It is the most common form of Arthritis that involves several patients around the globe. In osteoarthritis, joints suffer from wear and tear damage of the cartilage where they attach with other bones. The main role of cartilage around the bone ends is to provide frictionless joint motion. It gives a free range of mobility to joints and acts as a cushion bed for the bone.

But in osteoarthritis, enough damage to the cartilage leads to grinding of one bone with another. This gives rise to the non-bearable pain at the joint site and produces friction between bone movements. It limits the range of movement of the affected joint. All symptoms can be hastened due to injury or joint infection.

Osteoarthritis is also the cause of D.E. orientation of the connective tissue and changes the bone itself. Connective tissue connects muscles to bone and holds the joint together. When the cartilage of the joint gets damaged, it gives rise to the swollen lining of the joint.

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

The aetiology of the R.A. is completely unknown. In R.A., The body’s immune system attacks the lining of the joint capsule. The joint capsule is the tough lining, also called the synovial membrane, which encloses all joint parts and holds the joint together. The membrane becomes swollen and inflamed and leads to the damage of joints and bone in it.

Complications of Arthritis

Arthritis affects your joints and decreases the range of mobility. Thus it limits the work criteria of yours in daily tasks. Arthritis in joints like the knee and ankle, which bear your whole body weight, can keep you from walking comfortably or standing up straight after a long sitting position. In the worst case, the joint can lose its alignment and shape, which affects your posture.

Indirectly it will affect you not only on a physical level but mental level also. Posture deformity drops down your confidence level, and you will not be able to stand among the crowd.

That’s why it becomes more important that you get the correct treatment at the right time. If you are also suffering from any of the symptoms stated above, do not panic. We are here for your help and ensure you make your life better while curing your disease. Trust us with your life and our path!

Treatment

There are three sets of goals that we try to achieve while giving treatment to arthritis patients. There are-

• Short term – we try to relieve your symptoms through our procedure as soon as possible. Our main focus is to bring back the range of movement by restoring the affected joint.

• Intermediate-term – after the pain is relieved, we go to the core of the disease, which is inflammation. Controlling the swelling and preserving the joint is the main aim of therapy.

• Long term – prevention of complications and minimising the effect of the medicine on your body is the focus for our long term treatment.

DEFENCE STRATEGIES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF ARTHRITIS AND R.A.

Defensive procedures of Ayurveda in Arthritis affects the overall procedure of the body. It takes the body as a single unit and balances the three doshas. Its cumulative effect on the body system is really powerful and works as a boom in arthritis conditions.

Ayurveda has six stages of the disease which is –

• Accumulation of doshas
• Aggravation of doshas
• Dissemination of doshas
• Localisation of doshas
• Manifestation of disease
• Disruption of disease

In the first four stages, symptoms are vague, and the disease cannot be identified clinically. While treating Arthritis in starting these four stages, we only need to focus on the disturbed Vata doshas in the body. Alone equilibrium of doshas will subside the symptoms, and you can attain a normal life.

When the symptoms appear in the last two stages, both defensive and offensive strategies must opt for the better treatment of the disease.

Offence strategies are-

• Anti-inflammatory agents – it successful lowers down the pain and inflammation in joints
• Disease-modifying agents – it also subsides the pain and acts on inflammatory joints.
• Patients who develop severe deformities of joints can opt for surgery if they want.
• Though the offensive strategies have many side effects and should be used only under precaution.

Defensive strategies

The basic steps taken under this group are-

• Balancing of aggravated doshas
• Increase the Agni that is the digestive fire
• Steps to stop the formation of ama, undigested food
• Excretion of present ama
• Restoring the intestinal absorption

MEDITATION AND PRANAYAMA

Pranayama is referred to as the controlled breathing steps. Meditation is keeping your mind in a calm stage through Dhyan and other asanas. This will help in re-establishing the connection between mansik doshas and sharirik doshas. It increases your power of self-restraint that indirectly helps you control all the factors leading to an increase in Arthritis.

Asana and other Ayurvedic procedures

The yogic exercise, also called asana, is a great source to build up the body’s physical strength. Different postures are there in yogic science that give strength to particular areas of the body. Among all the postures, “surya namaskar” is considered as a single asana that compromises the postures of all other asanas. A single asana, if done daily, can do miracles on overall body functions and doshas.

DIET

According to Ayurveda, the food we are taking is the main cause of all violated doshas in the body. According to Acharya’s, if a person is taking a healthy diet, there is no need for any medicine to cure the disease. Following “swasvratta” (healthy life procedures) and “sadvritta” (healthy mind procedures) can alone cure all diseases.

Proper intake of food will also maintain your Agni in good condition. It will be able to digest the food properly and will not form any ama in the body. This will lower the inflammation process around the joint in Arthritis as the formation of ama will be lowered in the body. This directly leads to the decrease in symptoms of pain and inflammation in arthritis patients.

PANCHAKARMA THERAPY.

Ayurveda is blessed with the most potent therapy in the world. The literal meaning of the word “panchkarma” is the five karma that is a procedure that will balance the five elements Jal(water), Vayu(air). Akash(air). Agni(fire). And Prithvi(earth). In the body, along with the sharirik and mansik doshas.

Through panchakarma in arthritis patients, all the ama formed in the body will be taken out in the form of purgation or emesis—the main two procedures of panchakarma. Through enema, Vata dosha will be balanced and tends to maintain the equilibrium with other doshas. For the last many years, through regular panchakarma treatment, we have successfully controlled the patient’s doshas in the body. This gives us the best result in minimising the painful symptoms in arthritic patients.

CONCLUSION

Arthritis is definitely a disease that is not easy to handle. Arthritis keeps on getting worse as time passes, which ultimately leads to the loss of function of the affected joint, but now you don’t need to worry about that. We are here for you with our best team and the trust of the world’s oldest pathy.

For many years, we have been taking care of many arthritis patients who have successfully shown the degradation in their symptoms. They are now leading a normal life with their loved ones and are coping up with society.

Ayurveda is not a magic boom. It will take its own time to give you the life you want from its therapies. We will ensure you that with Neeraj clinic, you will experience the best therapies and results.

You are not alone on this battlefield. We are here with you in your tough time. Don’t hesitate too much now. If you are also suffering from any of such symptoms, visit our Ayurvedic Healing Center in Rishikesh.