Yoga & naturopathy based lifestyle interventions in the management of rheumatoid arthritis in a middle aged woman. A case report

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic debilitating disease most commonly seen in middle-aged women and that has unique challenge in its management. A 30 year old woman diagnosed with RA for 4 years presented with severe morning stiffness, pain, occasional numbness and tingling in her hands, wrists, as well as elbows with gait aberration. She also presented with ulnar deviation and swan neck deformity and reported an inability to perform her daily chores. She was not on any medication when she was admitted in an alternative health care setting where she was intervened with a specified protocol of yoga & naturopathy based lifestyle intervention (YNBL) which included yoga therapy, hydrotherapy, manipulative therapies, physiotherapy, western acupuncture, therapeutic fasting and dietary modifications for 3 months. The patient was followed-up for a period of 3 months from discharge. The data reveals significant improvement in the RA related Quality of Life scores (28−4), Visual analog score for pain (8−2), weight (30–35 kg), hemoglobin (9–9.8 gm/dl), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (80–28 mm/hr), RA factor (81.5–65 IU/mL), Anti- Citrullinated Protein Antibody (410–198 EU/mL). YNBL protocol was well tolerated by the patient and has shown significant reduction in inflammation, improvement in quality of life as well reversal of structural deformity. The results are encouraging to conduct large scale randomized control trials to explore the possibility of utilizing YNBL in the management of RA.