Effect of pranayama and ayurvedic treatement on arthritis

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study is to measure the effect of combined ayurveda and yoga therapy on osteoarthritis (OA) disease activity, pain and associated insomnia. Subjects were recruited from among OA patients in Calicut corporation government dispensary, Kerala by clinical diagnosis as experimental group. The control group is recruited from a medical camp conducted by Arogyamithram Ayurvedic and Yoga medical centre, Palath, Kozhikode Kerala. Pain disability questionnaire, Wong-Baker FACES pain rating scale, Numeric pain rating scale, Verbal pain intensity scale and Pittsburgh Insomnia Rating scale are documented. On the first day of yoga session along with Ayurvedic medication and after giving the same for experimental group and on the same days for the control group also without giving yoga and Ayurveda. The sample size of experimental group is 25 and control group is 24.At the end of the study we observed a significant reduction in pain, disability and insomnia in experimental group and there was an increase in pain, disability and insomnia in the control group. These findings assist the idea of implementation of yoga along with Ayurveda in osteoarthritis treatment. The previous studies on arthritis shows that yoga practices along with Ayurveda in Osteoarthritis patients lead to significant reduction in pain, disability and improvement in sleep quality. Aim: To study the effect of combined Ayurveda and yoga therapy on osteoarthritis. Methodology: The experimental group samples are recruited from government Ayurvedic dispensary, Calicut, Kerala and the control group samples are taken from a medical camp conducted by Argyamithram Ayurveda and yoga medical centre and anugraha charitable trust, Calicut, Kerala .The sample size of experimental group was 25 and control group was 24. Result: Paired sample t-test showed significant reduction in pain and disability in experimental group ,but slight increase in pain and disability in control group. There was a reduction insomnia rating scale in experimental group and increase in control group which are statistically not significant. Conclusion: One month of yoga practice along with Ayurveda in Osteoarthritis patients lead to significant reduction in pain, disability and improvement in sleep quality. Similar studies with large sample size and randomized sampling should replicated to confirm the consistency of results.