Diseases

Preventing diseases from affecting your day-to-day lives
Sciatica

Sciatica( Hridrasi a vatavyadhi in Ayurveda ) is a term used to describe symptoms like pain, weakness, numbness, burning or tingling in the leg. A lumbar herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, lumbar stenosis, or spondylolisthesis can all lead to sciatica. As a disc degenerates and breaks down, the inner core may leak out through the outside section of the disc. This is known as disc herniation, and it places direct pressure on the nerve.
As a consequence of ageing or trauma, the intervertebral disc can be damaged or degenerated. Loss of disc height can cause bulging of the disc, putting pressure on the nerves exiting the spine. Disc degeneration and facet joint overloading can cause arthritic overgrowth. This resultant loss of space in the foramen can cause squeezing or pinching of the nerve roots as they exit the spine, which is called lateral stenosis.
 

Treatment in Ayurveda

The first treatments are snehanam and swedhanam. The drugs used for the snehanam are the sahacharadi thailam, kottamchukkadi thailam, dhanwantharam thailam, and various other thailams based on the condition and the prakriti of the patient's body. After snehanam, swethanam is done to bring down the inflammation of the nerve. The person is subjected to treatment for 7–14 days based on the condition, followed by which various kizhis are given, like the jambeera kizhi and podi kizhi. 
One of the important treatments of Ayurveda is to strengthen both the paraspinal muscles and the nerves. This is done for a duration of 7 days for which the patient has to be on complete bed rest. So, with Ayurveda, sciatica can be treated completely, whereas other oral medications can also be given for external therapies. This includes rasnasapthaka kashayam, gandharvahasthadi kashayam, and also certain treatments like vasthikarma are also done.
 

Ayurveda Treatments