OA03.16. Therapeutic evaluation of ayurvedic therapy on power and spasticity in children effected with cerebral palsy

PURPOSE: Cerebral palsy is the most familiar physical disability in childhood, occurring in 2.0 to 2.5 per 1000 live birth, yet in numerous cases the cause remains unknown. It is a problem for Ayurvedic physicians to diagnose and treat such a big ailment on Ayurvedic lines due to nonavailability of clinical entity named as Cerebral Palsy in Ayurvedic classics but indirect references are surely scattered in various chapters. Therefore, considering it as challengeable melody, present study has been undertaken to find out an effective and safer medication as well as panchkarma procedures in Ayurveda to improve power and spasticity in children affected with cerebral Palsy by evaluating the therapeutic effects of combined Ayurvedic therapy including Samwardhana Ghrita, Hapushadi Yapan Basti, Abhyanga, Shashtika Shali Pinda Sweda and Physiotherapy and comparing it with the therapeutic effects produced by Physiotherapy alone. METHOD: Clinical study was performed on 28 children, clinically evaluated with CP of age group 1 12 yrs, selected randomly from OPD/IPD of Balroga department of N.I.A., Jaipur which were then categorized into two groups. 14 Patients of Group A were treated with Physiotherapy alone and 14 patients of Group B were treated with combination of Hapushadi Yapan basti, Abhy anga, Shashtika Shali Pinda Sweda Samwardhana Ghrita and Physiotherepy. RESULT: The study reveals that patients in group B showed more improvement on Spasticity which is statistically very significant over group A. On power, group B is more efficacious than group A from percentage change and result significance but did not show any significant advantage over group A when analyzed statistically. CONCLUSION: Combined Ayurvedic therapy with physiotherapy can be used efficiently in the management of spasticity and power in children affected with Cerebral Palsy.