It is estimated that over 350 million people around the world suffer from arthritis. If you are feeling aches and stiffness in your body, experiencing pain and swelling in the joints or are simply have trouble moving around, you might have arthritis.

Because the medications that reduce the pain of arthritis also can have serious side effects, many people are looking into alternative, natural approaches to arthritis. Research has shown statistically significant improvements in patients with arthritis when Ayurveda doctors were allowed to create individualized, patient-specific combinations of herbs and therapies for each person. Why was this a requirement for success?

Ayurveda identifies 3 categories or types of arthritis corresponding to Vata, Pitta and Kapha doshas.

Vata Aggravated Arthritis

Those with Vata aggravated arthritis may find that their joints may pop and crack because they are dry. Joints also may feel cold to the touch. With this type of arthritis, joints are painful mostly with movement and usually there is one particular area, which is tender or sore.

Pitta Aggravated Arthritis

With Pitta aggravated arthritis joints there is usually inflammation. Joints become swollen, red and hot to the touch and can be painful even when there is no movement.

Kapha Aggravated Arthritis

With Kapha aggravated arthritis joints also appear red, but the joints feel cool instead of hot. There can also be stiffness in the joints. In this case, pain occurs when one is at rest and movement can actually decrease the sensation of pain. Waking up in the morning after a night without movement can be quite painful for many with Kapha aggravate arthritis.

AMA: The Underlying Causative Factor for All Dosha Types

As mentioned, treatment for arthritis is specific to the dosha that is aggravated. But it is also important to understand that the underlying cause of arthritis is poor digestion. When people make choices in diet, life-style and daily routine that do not support their fundamental mind/body type, one or two doshas, Vata, Pitta or Kapha, can become aggravated. When that happens, the aggravation of doshas interferes with digestion, which in turn leads to the creation of ama, a sticky toxin that results from poorly digested food. Ama accumulates in the colon, from where it gets absorbed into the body and circulates, eventually accumulating in the tissues and joints.

Ama is “colored” by whatever dosha is out of balance: thus there is Vata-aggravated ama, Pitta-aggravated ama and Kapha-aggravated ama. Ama settling into the joints is what causes the symptoms of pain, inflammation and swelling.

If you are seeking alternative approach to dealing with joint pain, the best first step is a consultation with an experienced Ayurveda expert. Using pulse assessment, an expert can locate the root cause of your particular kind of arthritis and design the most effect approach for your specific symptoms and degree of imbalance and accumulation of ama.

Ayurveda Panchakarma treatments address arthritis on many levels. Panchakarma begins with a home cleansing program that starts to loosen and remove impurities, and helps open the channels of elimination in preparation for the more intensive treatments. The treatments themselves are gentle, yet powerful therapies that remove the toxins and impurities from your tissues and help open the channels of circulation and elimination. An individualized treatment program will be designed to specifically address the dosha that is causing problems, as well as removing ama and blockages from the joints and tissues.

For more information on Ayurvedic treatments for arthritis, visit The Raj Ayurveda Health Spa website:

www.theraj.com

Ayurveda often connects joint pain to Vata dosha. While other factors contribute to the development of arthritis and joint pain, an imbalance in Vata dosha is almost always involved. For this reason, one of the most important Ayurvedic recommendations for balancing Vata is regularity in one’s daily routine: eating at the same, exercising at the same time, and going to bed at the same time every day.

Modern science now lends strength to this seemingly simple Ayurvedic “fix”.

Research studies conclude that regular meal times, exercise and bed times could help keep help avoid and/or minimize the pain of arthritis. According to researchers, tiny biological clocks exist within our cartilage cells, which control thousands of genes that are involved in keeping in keeping our cartilage healthy and strong.

The most common form of arthritis is caused by the wear and tear of cartilage that helps our joints withstand the strain of lifting, kneeling, bending, gripping, etc. When the biological clocks in our joints are working properly, the genes are timed to be activated at different times of the day and night. This allows the daily repair to happen in progressive and sequential steps.

As we age, however, our biological clocks in our joints can stop working properly and the repair process no longer gets carried out as it was designed. Researchers found that the simple act of keeping a regular daily routine actually helped keep the cartilage clocks working properly, allowing them to support the self-repair of the cartilage.

The study concluded that not only can a regular routine delay the onset of arthritis, it could also help relieve pain in those already suffering from the condition.

Ayurveda has long understood the role that the body’s circadian rhythm (our built-in body clock) has in maintaining proper functioning of the physiology. Now modern science supports this understanding disruptions to this process can contribute to the development of osteoarthritis.

In many cases, wear and tear in the joints are aggravated by the accumulation of ama. When ama, the toxic residue that results from poorly digested food, enters the blood stream, it can build up in areas of the body, including the joints. To remove ama from the joints and tissues, the traditional Ayurvedic treatments for purification and detoxification, known as Panchakarma, can be very helpful. These treatments help bring the aggravated doshas and accumulated ama back into the digestive tract for elimination. Once ama has been cleared, a program of prevention can be recommended. This will include lifestyle, diet and herbal recommendations that will help keep Vata in balance while supporting proper digestion so that ama no longer accumulated in the body.

For more information on programs for arthritis at The Raj Ayurveda Health Spa, visit the web site:

www.theraj.com