https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27704865

You may have seen our post yesterday from Thursday nights event at The House of Lords to celebrate Ayurveda Day and honour Ayurvedas contribution to humanity.

Today we want to share this study with you, which looked at the effectiveness of Ayurvedic massage in people with chronic lower back pain. In this randomised controlled trial, sixty-four patients with chronic low back pain were randomly assigned to a 2-week massage group with 6 hours of Ayurvedic massage and external treatment or to a 2-week local thermal therapy group. The study observation period was 4 weeks, consisting of a 2-week intervention phase followed by a 2-week follow-up phase.

Average levels of back pain at week 2 was significantly reduced in both the massage group and in the standard thermal therapy group. Beneficial effects on pain-related bothersomeness and psychological well-being were also apparent. Researchers concluded that Ayurvedic external treatment is effective for pain-relief in chronic low back pain in the short term. Further studies with longer observation periods, however, are needed to evaluate the long-term effects of the Ayurvedic external treatment approach on function and disability.

Have a very lovely Saturday everyone.