Living with back pain can be a daily struggle, impacting even the simplest tasks. From sitting at a desk to enjoying outdoor activities, the persistent ache in your lower back can cast a shadow over your life. Fortunately, popping painkillers is not the only option for treating extremely painful back pain.

Ayurveda has various remedies to treat many health issues using natural methods and therapies. Vasti, a natural element of Ayurveda helps with back pain relief effectively and easily. Vasti is the procedure where heat of medicated oils is the active ingredient which when applied to the affected area in a particular way, alleviates the pain. The warm medicated oil is applied using a pattern/ frame formed over the inflamed area for a specific time period.

Understanding Kati Vasti:

Kati Vasti is an ayurvedic treatment for low back pain problems. Low back pain is a disorder where the patients experience discomfort in the muscles and back bone. The word Kati Vasti has been derived from two words- Kati means “low back” and Vasti meaning “to hold”.

Kati Vasti involves creating a reservoir using a dough dam on the lower back, which is then filled with warm herbal oil. This therapy’s focus is twofold: providing immediate relief by improving blood circulation and addressing the root causes of pain for long lasting results. The heated oil penetrates deeply, nurturing the muscles, nerves, and tissues of the lower back. This helps in reducing inflammation, promoting relaxation, and restoring the balance of Vata, the Dosha responsible for pain.

Benefits of Kati Vasti:

According to Ayurvedic medicine, Kati Vasti is believed to have several benefits for the lower back and the lumbar and sacral regions of the spine. Some of the potential benefits of Kati Vasti are reducing pain, treating numbness in limbs, relaxing the muscles and joints thereby relieving stiffness, improving circulations and smoothening the inflamed nerves

• Lower back pain – This is a common disorder of the lower back involving the muscles and bones of back
• Lumbar Spondylitis – This is a condition of degenerative osteoarthritis of joints of the bones forming your back
• Sciatica – This is a condition vigorously starting from sciatic nerve and affecting the back, hip, thigh and outer side of the leg caused by the compression of a spinal nerve in the lower back due to the degeneration of an intervertebral disc. You will feel the pain along with tingling, numbness and gradually weakness in the lower back that goes downwards through back of your thigh.
• Sacro-iliac joint pain or dysfunction – This is a disease of sacro iliac joint pain that cause immense back pain or leg pain. The pain is typically felt when the pits on either side of your lower back are compressed manually.
• Coccydynia – This is a medical term given to the pain in coccyx or tail bone pain usually caused by sitting all of a sudden.
• Inter vertebral disc prolapse or Lumbar disc disorders – These are caused when the intervertebral discs get bulged or extruded and they press on a nerve root causing much pain
• Spondylolistheis – this is a condition also termed as Ankylosing Spondylitis in which there is forward displacement of Lumbar vertebra. This causes stiffening in the back, low back pain and tightening of thigh muscles which causes a shooting pain while walking.
• Spina Bifida – This is merely a birth defect caused by incomplete closing of backbones and membranes around the spinal cord. This represents leg weakness, paralysis, club foot, hip dislocation, bladder and bowel control problems.

How effective is Kati Vasti in Ayurveda

As per Ayurveda, various types of pain, stiffness and neurological disorders are caused by Vata Dosha. Holding medicated oils in the lumbosacral region causes vasodilation and neurological stimulations. Providing warm oils in the affected areas removes excess toxins from the skin surface. This results in an increase in the blood flow results in the removal of toxins thereby increasing blood circulation and thus reducing inflammation.

When the tissues are provided with necessary supplements, the body starts healing process by reducing pain and stiffness, strengthening muscles and providing much flexibility to the muscles and intervertebral joints.

Conclusion

While undergoing Kati Vasti or any other Ayurveda therapy, selecting a place that provides authentic Ayurveda treatments is crucial. Choose a place that offers traditional Kerala treatments and has qualified Ayurvedic physicians and well-trained therapists. Ayurveda looks at each person on an individual basis and takes a holistic approach with an Ayurvedic practitioner looking at restoring all the bodily functions when dealing with back pain or any musculoskeletal disorders.

There are many different causes for back pain varying from stress, poor posture physical trauma, poor diet and lifestyle to name a few, and for that reason, Kati Vasti approach is essential for a long lasting result.

At Ayurclinic, we provide a customized treatment plans tailored to suit your health goals.

If you’re ready to embrace a pain-free existence, you can book us online and meet the best Ayurveda doctor in Melbourne.

If you have occasional back pain, you can call our experts at +61 3 9078 2940 to schedule a treatment plan.