Ayurvedic management of lumbar disc disease - A case report

Lumbar disc disease (LDD) is a common cause of chronic or recurrent low back and leg pain most likely to occur at the L4-L5 and L5-S1 levels. The pain may be located in the lower back only or may refer to the leg, buttocks, or hip. There is less improvement with modern medicines and recurrence due to surgical decompression. Various Ayurvedic drugs along with required pañcakarma procedures have been proved useful for these manifestations. We present a case of LDD (kaṭi asthi sandhi gata vᾱta) having acute severe lower back pain above left hip joint radiating towards the left thigh and calf muscle since 14 days. His visual analog scale (VAS) score was 10 when he arrived at the hospital. The case was treated for 3 months with a combination of ᾱyurvedic drugs and pañcakarma procedures. Ayurvedic treatments, in this case, were directed toward alleviating pain and to reduce disability to walk. The patient was considered suffering from kaṭi asthi sandhi gata vᾱta (vᾱtaj disorder involving lumbar region) and was given harītakī cῡrṇa 5 g with lukewarm water on the first night for vᾱtᾱnulomana. ekāṅgavīra rasa, punarnavādi maṇḍūra, rᾱsnᾱsaptaka kvᾱtha, balāriṣṭa, ajamodādi cūrṇa, orally have been given with saindhavādi taila for local application for 3 months. For śodhana cikitsā sarvāṅga abhyaṅga and sarvāṅga patra piṇḍa svedana (PPS), kaṭi basti with pañcaguṇa taila and kᾱla basti (nirῡha with rᾱsnᾱ eraṇḍādi kvᾱtha and anuvᾱsana with dhānvantaraṃ taila) for 16 days is given. Patient's condition was assessed for symptoms of kaṭi asthi sandhi gata vᾱta and VAS scale for pain, Fukushima lumbar spinal stenosis scale-25, and 6 min walking test before and after the treatment which showed substantial improvement. This study shows that the cases of lumbar disc disease which may be successfully managed with ayurvedic treatment.