Gut and Joint Interconnections: A Reappraisal to Ayurvedic Understanding of Joint Diseases

Abstract

Being an ancient health-care science, Ayurveda is profoundly rich in culture-based philosophical contexts. Its methods of understanding health and disease often swing around intricate terminologies and explanations, not well understood in contemporary context. Ama, for example, has been one pathogenic proposition from Ayurveda which is linked with numerous manifestations ranging from local gastrointestinal to systemic musculoskeletal disorders.

While thinking of evidence-based understanding of a pathology and then to its management, this is important that the classical context should be reappraised critically and didactically into a more elucidative manner. Reappraising ancient thoughts of Ayurveda into the contemporary knowledge without distorting their intellectual component is one important step towards evidence generation. This chapter reviews the concept of Ama, as is perceived in Ayurveda, and links it to the contemporary understanding of membrane pathologies related to gastrointestinal tract initially and to various joint pathologies finally, a thought which is highly acclaimed, endorsed, and practiced in Ayurveda. In this way, it tries to bridge between concepts of Ayurvedic and modern rheumatology for their better integration and application onto an evidence-based health-care model.