Role of agnikarma in the management of gridhrasi w.s.r. to sciatica

Sciatica is one of the most common painful neuromuscular disorders in which sciatic nerve of one or both the legs is involved. The primary symptoms are back pain and walking difficulty, pain begins in lumbar region and radiates along the posterio-lateral aspect of thigh to the leg. The characteristic sign and symptoms of this disease are closely resembles to the clinical features of gridhrasi. In Ayurveda, various methods used in treatment of gridhrasi are bheshaja, snehana, swedana, siravedha, agnikarma and basti. Agnikarma is one of the para- surgical procedures which is very effective, simple, safe, having quick action and inexpensive. Acharya Sushrut mentions Agnikarma as superior most than other therapeutic procedures as it gives instant relief in pain. In this study 15 patients were treated by Agnikarma therapy along with parijat patra kashay (50 ml twice a day) for duration of one month. Agnikarma therapy was carried out in the interval of 10 days in total three times in a month. Total efficacy of the procedure was assessed by statistical analysis. The signs and symptoms were assessed before and after the treatment based on the grading score of sign and symptoms. There was observed a highly significant reduction in the parameters like pain, walking distance, stiffness, SLR test seen in the study. Visual Pain Analogue Scale was used for analysis of overall effect of treatment. Results obtained were analyzed by the statistical significance using paired t test, which revealed that there is statistically significant improvement in symptoms of Gridhrasi.