Abstract

AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY ON THE ASSOCIATION OF LOW BACK PAIN AND MID-LINE FISSURE IN TONGUE

R. Saranya*, G. J. Christian, S. Elansekaran and M. Ramamoorthy

Abstract

In Siddha system of medicine, “tongue” is well-regarded as one of themost significant diagnostic tool for a wide number of diseases. Sincethe tongue is a mirror of our body and it is a hypothetical point, themidline fissure (MLF) in tongue may reflect the disorders of midlinestructures in the body. In ancient Siddha literature by Sage Agasthiyar,the presence of fissure in tongue is described as an indicator ofderranged vatha humour. This observational study was conductedamong 3 groups of patients to observe and analyse the clinicalpresentation of patients having mid-line fissure in tongue and therebyto evolve significant diagnostic clue from tongue examination. GroupI, included 100 cases with mid-line fissure in tongue and their clinical presentation wasobserved and documented. Group II consisted of 30 patients with low back ache [without anymajor illness] and were observed for the presence of midline fissure. In Group III (controlgroup) 50 general patient population irrespective of their diseases were studied for thepresence of midline fissure and associated symptoms. All the results were documented andthe strength of association of midline fissure and low back pain (LBP) was statisticallyanalyzed by using Odds ratio and were also represented graphically. From this preliminaryeffort it has been evident of an association between Mid-line fissure & low back achecondition.

Keywords: Siddha, Mid line fissure, Eightfold examination, Tongue fissure.