EVOLUTION OF GRIDHRASI (SCIATICA) – A REVIEW

Abstract

Āyurveda is one of the most ancient medical sciences of the world dedicated for the promo-tion of health, prevention and cure of disease since time immemorial. According to Āyurveda simple freedom from the diseases cannot be considered as health. To become healthy, a per-son should be happy both mentally and physically other than being simply free from disease or infirmity.Change in the life style of stressful and competitive modern man has created dis-harmony in his biological system. With busy professional and social life, improper posture, continuous strenuous work, over exertion, jerky movements during travel and sports create biodynamic changes in the weight bearing spinal column. This may cause variety of pain causing spinal disorders. Among them low backache and Sciatica are very common which lead to the major loss of working hours of professionally active population. Gridhrasi (Sciat-ica), which is considered as one of the Vatic disorders, very commonly seen in clinical prac-tice and the incidence is expected to be increasing through the coming years due to erroneous diet habits, faulty postures, lack of physical exercise, sleep disturbances and mental stress. The term Gṛdhrasī indicates the typical gait that resembles of Gṛdhra i.e. vulture. The cardi-nal features of Gṛdhrasī are pain, pricking sensation, stiffness and repeated twitching ob-served sequentially in the buttocks, low back, and thigh, back of knee, calf region and foot with restricted lifting of the affected leg,In the present study, the historical development in the field of Gridhrasi and its modern counterpart sciatica is reviewed.