Abstract
Human prakriti is one among the founding principles of Ayurveda. It has a diverse application in the field of diagnosis, epidemiology, clinical decision-making, and prognostication. Ayurvedic concept of prakriti received a thorough review recently through number of evidences arising from statistics, gene science, and biochemistry. Being an important component to evidence-based decision-making in Ayurveda, prakriti examination method requires a serious concern. Conventional methods used to make prakriti examination in Ayurvedic research and practice are found to have limitations making them questioned. This chapter reviews the basic characteristics of prakriti in Ayurvedic purview, examines the existing methods of prakriti examination for their limitations, and hypothesizes a prototype method for prakriti analysis to fill the gap felt through the identified limitations within the existing methods. In recognition to the difficulties faced in standardization and validation to CAM research models, this Prakriti Analysis Instrument (PAI) is proposed as a forerunner to a more refined standard prakriti examination tool which might appear finally for application in routine clinical settings after its rigorous validity and reliability testing on strict scientific parameters.
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Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges Prof. Francesco Chiappelli, UCLA, for his intellectual help and support provided during the initial conceptualization of this chapter.
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Rastogi, S. (2012). Prakriti Analysis in Ayurveda: Envisaging the Need of Better Diagnostic Tools. In: Rastogi, S. (eds) Evidence-Based Practice in Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24565-7_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24565-7_6
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