An ayurvedic solution for pain

KOCHI: The theme of this year’s National Ayurveda Day is ‘Pain management through Ayurveda’. The treatment of pain, which is a symptom of most of the diseases, is a major challenge faced by any system of medicine.

The number of patients suffering from mental as well as physical pain has been continuously increasing. As per the reports published by the World Health Organisation, one out of every six people in India has been suffering from pain caused by arthritis. Apart from this, senior citizens who constitute 30 per cent of the population in India has been suffering from chronic pain as per various reports. The severity of the issue and its impact on the productivity of the country can concluded from these statistics.

The more alarming trend found in the society is the overuse of pain killers without consulting doctors. Today’s busy life and decreased pain threshold of the young generation have contributed for the increase in the use of painkillers. It’s the responsibility of each system of medicine to create awareness against overuse of pain killers and check it. Therefore, the best way of treatment is differentiating pain with the disease that causes it.  

Ayurveda consider pain as a symptom of the changes happening in a person’s health conditions.
As per ayurveda pain is caused by various reasons. Therefore treatment after analyzing exact reasons of pain will be more effective than taking painkillers for all kinds of pain. Pain has been divided into two types for the convenience of treatment – acute pain and chronic pain.
Acute pain includes a range of pain starting from stomach pain caused due to indigestion to heart attack, which requires immediate treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to find out the disease causing pain and treat it by using the most suitable system of medicine.

Medicines mentioned in Ayurveda Science, especially herbo mineral compounds, are found to be more effective in treating all types of pain, which don’t require critical treatment. Apart from this, various ayurvedic therapies like ‘Lepanam’, ‘Abhyanga’, ‘Avagaham’, ‘Kabalam’, ‘Agnikarmam’, ‘Raktha moksham’ and ‘Vasti’ will also help to reduce pain immediately. These treatment methods can be very effectively used depending on the patient and his condition.

Most of the joint pain caused by arthritis and neck and back pain and headache caused by spondylosis and repetitive strain injury fall in the category of chronic pain.
It is impractical and unhealthy for the patients suffering from chronic pain to take painkillers daily. Here we should utilize the potential of ayurveda. It is essential to consider different versions of diseases when treating chronic pain.

The pain can be treated by controlling the diseases by selecting medicines and treatment methods depending on the stage of the diseases. Apart from this, while treating such diseases the use of ‘Rasayana Aushadhas’ is also essential for improving health condition and immunity level. Time has arrived for effectively using the potential of Ayurveda in palliative care.

Incredible achievements can be made in the health sector by applying the most effective system of medicine that is suitable for a patient after understanding the disease and its symptoms clearly.
The medical fraternity and public should be able to make rational decisions when it comes to pain management.   

The author is the DMO,
Indian Systems of Medicine.

The views expressed in the article are those of the author.