Joint Pain-Home Remedies

If you have had knee pains while talking a walk, or your back hurts while rising from bed in the morning, or kneading dough leaves your knuckles stiff and painful, you can very well conclude that winter is approaching. These common outbursts of pains are clear indications that winter is around the corner and you begin to dread the severe effects of winter on your joints. The older we get, the more our joints seem to be affected by cold weather and dampness.

Usually in such circumstances we end up popping a pain killer, covering ourselves with warm clothes or perhaps a little oil massage in the affected area. But all these are only momentary relievers and the pain recurs with further exposure to cold.

But the aggravation of pain might be due to your disorderly immunity system, imbalanced diet or unhealthy lifestyle. Basically, your bones need to be healthy and strong in order to endure weather in all seasons and keep up with anything you may face daily.

According to Ayurvedic philosophy, aggravated vata is caused by the accumulation of ama (toxic byproducts) and its aggravation by air. Imbalanced vata picks up ama, which circulates in the entire body and gets collected in the kapha regions of the body. When the deposits in the joints and aggravation of vata happen simultaneously, they result in a disease called amavata, of which joint pain is a symptom. Our in-house home remedies specialist, Dr. Granny suggests a few easy and effective home remedies to help you fight the pain in your joints.

Doctor Granny’s remedies

• Soak 5 grams of fenugreek seeds in 250 ml. of water overnight (or at least 4 hours). Boil and reduce it to 150 ml. Filter and drink warm once or twice a day for beneficial effects on joint pain. Fenugreek removes the ama from the joints and brings it back to the colon, where it can be eliminated.

• Heat 20 ml of mustard oil in a pan on a low flame until it is fuming hot; now add 2 grams of chopped garlic to it. Turn off the flame and let the oil cool. Apply this oil on the affected joints. Whole body massage with mustard oil also helps to reduce the vata and thus reduce the pain.

• Take 100 grams of sand in a thin piece of cloth and make it into a potli. Place some sand in a pan and dip the sand potli inside the pan for it to warm up. Now apply the hot potli in the affected area for a soothing effect. Make sure you warm up the potli every time before applying it. This helps reduce the vata disorder and in the process reduces pain and increases mobility.

• Mix dry ginger powder, ashwagandha and turmeric in equal quantities. Take one teaspoon thrice daily. This is very effective in repairing and rejuvenating joints.

Note:

Try these remedies at your own risk. Please remember home remedies cannot replace medicines. If your condition does not improve, seek professional advice.