HERBS FOR TREATING ARTHRITIS

MEDICINES -- Eight selected medicinal plants are described with reference to their anti-arthritic properties. They have been in use in India & her neighbouring countries for thousands of years. Today Ayurvedic physicians use these plants & their preparations with considerable success & without any adverse effect whatsoever. These are not the only anti-arthritic Herbs in the armoury of Ayurveda. They have been chosen because of their popularity & therapeutic excellence. Ayurveda, has its own concepts of drug composition & drug action. Such details have been avoided here intentionally to maintain focus. Several compound preparations of these Herbs are described in Ayurvedic classics & marketed by large scale manufacturers. To supplement the effects of these drugs, to make the preparations palatable, to make their effects multidimensional & to increase their shelf-life, several other drugs are added & preparations made according to different pharmaceutical processes. unlike modern medicine, in these compound preparations no synthetic chemicals are added. Only simple extracts, or the Herb in raw form, are used. A few important compound preparations are mentioned at the end of the description of each Herb. Patients can safely use Herbs & Herbal preparations on the lines suggested further on. They are intended for not only giving relief to manifested signs & symptoms of Arthritis in a particular joint or limb, but they also produce effects on the whole body to ultimately root out the disease. All of them have a large safety margin & even if consumed in doses higher than what is prescribed for the therapeutic purposes, they have no bad effects. Instead of side (toxic) effects, these drugs produce side-benefits. They can be used by healthy persons & patients alike. In healthy persons, these Herbs prevent the occurrence of the disease & promote positive health. In patients, these plants cure the disease & make the body immune to future attacks of this ailment. These Herbs have many other therapeutic effects. But in order not to stray away from the context, only anti-arthritic properties have been described in some detail leaving other aspects of these Herbs with a casual mention. Since these Herbs have no adverse effects when used for prolonged periods there is no fixed course of treatment for Arthritis with these remedies. They can be safely used until the patient becomes absolutely free from the disease & even for a few days thereafter, to prevent recurrence of the ailment.