Intermittent claudication or pain is a medical condition which indicates peripheral arterial disease, while constant pain indicates a more serious and advanced condition. Claudication is usually because of atherosclerosis of the arteries in the extremities, which reduces blood supply to the limbs. Symptoms include pain in the legs and especially in the calves, and discolouration or ulceration of the skin. Claudication has certain associated risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, increased cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, age over 50 and a family history of the disease. The modern management of this condition includes cessation of smoking, regular exercise, especially walking, and other symptomatic treatment.
Ayurvedic herbal treatment for claudication includes treatment of the symptoms as well as treatment of the root cause of the disease. Ayurvedic herbal medicines are given to reduce atherosclerosis in the arteries, in the extremities in particular, and in general, all the arteries of the body. Herbal medicines which are useful in this condition reduce cholesterol, reduce the deposition of atheromatous plaques in the arteries and also reduce inflammation and stickiness in the walls of the arteries. Such treatment is given in high doses for about 4 to 6 months and usually provides significant relief from the symptoms of pain and discolouration of skin as well as possible ulceration. This is because this herbal treatment gradually reduces the blockage within the arteries and restores the blood supply to the affected parts.
Other concurrent medical conditions such as high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes also need to be treated simultaneously, in order to bring about a significant improvement of symptoms in the affected individual as well as to prevent a relapse. Cessation of smoking is a must along with the adoption of a healthy lifestyle such as regular walking and deep breathing, which help in reducing the treatment time for this condition.
Ayurvedic herbal treatment can thus be judiciously utilised in the successful management and treatment of claudication.
The writer, Dr. A. A. Mundewadi, is available as an online Ayurvedic consultant at www.ayurvedaphysician.com
