Abstract

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RASNA GUGGULU AND SHAMAN YOGA IN THE MANAGEMENT OF GRIDHRASI W.S.R. TO SCIATICA

Dr. Neha Rawat* and Dr. Vivek Sharma

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Abstract

Title of the Dissertation -“A Comparative Study of Rasna Guggulu and Shaman Yoga in the Management of Gridhrasi w.s.r. to Sciatica”. Background: Lower back pain specifically sciatic pain is the most common presentation of locomotor system in present era. Approximately 50% of overall populations suffer from low back pain out of which nearly 20% are of sciatic origin. The disorders pertaining to locomotor system are observed in an increasing pattern as a result of various factors such as faulty posture during work in offices, long standing and jerky movements during travel and sports. All these factors either alone or in conjunction may lead to low backache and sciatica due to undue pressure on spine. In parlance with sciatica, a severe debilitating disease named Gridhrasi has been mentioned in Ayurvedic classics. Whereas contemporary conservative management may provide temporary symptomatic relief, however use of Vata Shamak Dravya is supposed to provide better relief since Gridhrasi is a Vata predominant disease. Hence the present clinical study is designed with the ultimate aim of finding out an optimum treatment regimen with the help of Rasna Guggulu and Shaman Yoga which could be safe, effective, economically affordable and free from any untoward effects. Objectives: 1. To evaluate the efficacy of Rasna Guggulu in the management of Gridhrasi. 2. To evaluate the efficacy of Shaman Yoga in the management of Gridhrasi. 3. To compare the efficacy of Rasna Guggulu and Shaman Yoga in the management of Gridhrasi. Methods: The clinical study was done on 60 subjects of both sex, between the age group of 21- 60 years who were randomly assigned into 3 group (20 patients in each group) namely Group A, Group B and Group C. In Group A given Placebo, in Group B given Rasna Guggulu and in Group C given Shaman Yoga. Duration of the treatment was 30 days. Assessment was done before and after treatment based on objective and subjective parameters using standard scoring methods. For statistical analysis subjective and objective parameters were assessed by Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test and Mann-Whitney test. Observations and Results: In this study most of the patients of Gridhrasi is age group between 40-50 years and most of the patients are hard physical worker and house wives. Result was assessed with the help of required assessment criteria, which shows following results, out of 60 patients, in group A all 20 (100%) patients have no improvement, in Group B 5 (25%) patients have marked improvement followed by 14 (70%) patients got Moderate improvement and 1 (5%) patient have mild improvement and in Group C 2 (10%) patients have marked improvement followed by 13 (65%) patients got Moderate improvement and 5 (25%) patient have mild improvement. Discussion: In the present clinical study maximum numbers of patients registered are under the age group of 41 to 50 years and most of patients are labour and hard working. Both the groups (Group B and Group C) are having similar effect on reducing the symptoms statistically. Among the subjective and objective parameters Group B showed slightly better result than Group C. Conclusion: On intra group comparison both trial groups B and C show extremely significant results statistically. However on inter group comparison the result was not significant. The percentage of relief observed on subjective parameters in Group B was 86.08% whereas in Group C it was 81.8%. On the basis of above result it could be concluded that both the trial groups were effective in the management of Gridhrasi. However Group B showed better efficacy in the management of symptoms of Gridhrasi as compared to Group C.

Keywords: Gridhrasi, Sciatica, Rasna Guggulu, Shaman Yoga.