Ayurvedic management of degenerative lumbar spinal canal stenosis: A case report

a) Introduction-Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is a degenerative condition described as narrowed lumbar spinal canal with neurogenic claudication, consisting of back and buttock or leg pain induced by walking or standing and relieved by sitting. It adversely affects quality of life of the patients. There is lack of improvement with modern medicines. There are chances of recurrence due to surgical decompression. b) Patient has severe stretching pain in right leg up to toe with right lower limb claudication since1 month. Patient walks with a stick and has limping gait. Straight leg raising (SLR) test is positive right at 45ᵒ and left at 60ᵒ. c) In ayurvedic clinic it is diagnosed as kati asthi sandhi gata vata (vata disorder involving vertebras, intervertebral joints and surrounding connective tissues of lumbar region), He was treated for three months with a combined treatment of oral ayurvedic drugs tryodashanga guggulu, ajmodadi churna, balarishta and rasna saptaka kwath along with Panchakarma procedures - Patra pind sweda (PPS) and kati basti with panchaguna tail along with Kala basti regimen of niruha basti (decoction based enema) with rasna erandadi kwath and anuvasana basti (oil based enema) with dhanwantar tail for 16 days. Patients condition was assessed for symptoms of kati asthi sandhi gata vata and visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, Fukushima lumbar spinal stenosis scale (FLS-25), and 6 min walking test (6MWT). d) There was substantial improvement in symptoms of the patient. The assessment scales showed marked improvement measured before and after the treatment. This study shows that the cases of degenerative LSS may be successfully managed with ayurvedic treatment.