Arthritis

Ayurveda distinguishes three categories of arthritis, corresponding to vata, pitta, and kapha. To treat this condition properly, it is vital to carefully diagnose which type you have.

TYPES OF ARTHRITIS

• If arthritis is due to vata, your joints will crack and pop. They become dry and are not swollen as they may be if excess vata is not the cause. The joints may also feel cold to the touch. They are painful mostly upon movement, and there is usually one particular tender spot. Jogging, jumping, trampolining, or any strenuous exercise tends to aggravate the pain.
• Pitta-type arthritis is characterized by inflammation; the joint becomes swollen and is painful even without movement. It often looks red and feels hot to the touch.
• In kapha-type arthritis, the joint also becomes stiff and swollen, but it feels cold and clammy rather than hot. A little movement, rather than aggravating the pain, tends to relieve it. The pain is greater in the morning, and as the person starts moving around, the pain diminishes.

FOR ALL TYPES OF ARTHRITIS

Treatment for each type of arthritis is unique, as we shall see in a moment. But for all cases, it is important to know that arthritis begins in the colon.

Depending on the person’s lifestyle, diet, and emotional pattern, either vata, pitta, or kapha goes out of balance. Then that particular dosha slows down agni (digestive fire), resulting in the toxic, sticky by-product of inadequate digestion known as ama.

Vata, the main active dosha, brings the ama into the colon, and from there it travels through the system and lodges in the asthi dhatu (bone tissue) and in the joints, giving rise to the stiffness and pain characteristic of arthritis.

So our aim in treating arthritis is to remove the ama from the joint and bring it back to the colon, and then to eliminate it.

This is why, to relieve arthritis, it is important to keep the colon clean. To accomplish this, if you do not know positively whether it is vata, pitta, or kapha arthritis, taking triphala at night (1 teaspoon) with some warm water (½ to 1 cup) will be effective for all types. Alternatively, if you know positively which type it is, you can use haritaki for vata-type arthritis, amalaki for pitta-type, and bibhitaki for kapha-type arthritis (½ to 1 teaspoon with warm water in all cases).

Now for the complete treatments.

FOR VATA-TYPE ARTHRITIS

• Follow the vata-pacifying diet (chapter 8). Favor warm, easy-to-digest foods, and avoid cold foods and drinks, including salads. Avoid beans, drying grains such as barley and corn, and the nightshades: tomato, potato, and eggplant.
• Take yogaraj guggulu, 1 tablet 3 times per day.
• Apply mahanarayan oil on the affected joint, followed by application of local moist heat. For example, say you have an arthritic ankle. Apply the mahanarayan oil, rub it into the skin, and then soak your foot in warm to bearably hot water. Add a “teabag” of brown mustard seeds to the water. You can make the bag by wrapping 2 tablespoons of mustard seeds in a handkerchief or cheesecloth.
• Helpful yoga postures include Forward Bend (don’t strain), the Chest-Knee pose, Maha Mudra, and the Half Bridge pose. (For illustrations of yoga postures, see appendix 4.)

FOR PITTA-TYPE ARTHRITIS

Pitta arthritis often has more pain and inflammation associated with it than other types.

• Follow the pitta-pacifying diet (chapter 8). Particularly avoid hot, spicy foods, pickles, spinach, and tomatoes.
• These Ayurvedic herbal formulas will help you. Take 1 tablet of kaishore guggulu (350 mg.) 3 times a day, and ½ teaspoon sudarshan twice a day, washed down with warm water.
• Externally, apply cool castor oil or coconut oil to the painful area.
• Application of a cooling substance, such as sandalwood powder paste, is soothing. Make the paste by taking 1 teaspoon of sandalwood powder and adding sufficient water to make a paste. Rub it gently onto the joint.
• If the joint is hot and inflamed, you can put an icebag on it. This will help to ease the pain and inflammation.
• Helpful yoga postures include the Boat, Bow, Camel, Cow, and Locust poses, as well as the series of postures known as the Moon Salutation. (See appendix 4 for illustrations of yoga postures.)
• You can also perform shitali pranayama, as follows: Make a tube of your tongue. Breathe deeply through your mouth down into your belly. Hold the breath for a few seconds, then exhale through your nose. Do about 12 repetitions. (See illustration in chapter 6.)

FOR KAPHA-TYPE ARTHRITIS

Arthritis is classified as kapha when the joint is painful, swollen, stiff, and feels cold and clammy to the touch.

• Follow the kapha-reducing diet (chapter 8). Especially, take no dairy products and no cold drinks.
• A potent herbal formula to help with this type of arthritis is punarnava guggulu tablets (250 mg.). Take 1 tablet 3 times a day.
• Externally, you can apply a paste of vacha (calamus root) powder. Add sufficient warm water to 1 teaspoon of powder to make a paste, and apply to the joint.
• When there is an effusion (when the joint fills with fluid), you can make an effective paste of equal amounts of punarnava powder and ginger powder. Mix 1 teaspoon of each with enough warm water to form a paste, and apply.
• Yoga postures that are helpful for kapha-type arthritis include the Tree, Triangle, Forward Bend, and Spinal Twist. (Illustrations of yoga postures appear in appendix 4.)

RHEUMATOID AND OSTEOARTHRITIS

In addition to the vata–pitta–kapha method of classifying arthritis, this condition can also be classified as either rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis. If you are sure which condition you have, the following guidelines will add more specificity to your treatment.

FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS. Take 1 simhanada guggulu tablet (350 mg.) 3 times a day, and 1 chitrak-adhivati (200 mg.) tablet twice a day.

• A quarter teaspoon of yogaraj guggulu washed down with a little warm water 3 times a day is also recommended.
• You can also drink 1 cup of ginger tea with 2 teaspoons of castor oil added. Castor oil contains natural precursors of steroids, which help to heal the inflammatory condition of rheumatoid arthritis. Take this tea before going to bed. Expect some laxative effect from the castor oil.

FOR OSTEOARTHRITIS. Take 1 tablet of yogaraj guggulu twice a day. At night, take ½ teaspoon gandharva haritaki (haritaki sautéed in castor oil) with warm water. If you don’t have gandharva haritaki, use ginger tea with castor oil, as described above.