Back Pain Cure by Bhumkas of Patalkot Valley

Back pain is caused by various reasons. The sudden pain in the back may be a result of muscular tear or ligament problem. When sudden pressure is experienced by back bone segment, it may cause severe pain and may persist long if no proper medication is taken in to consideration. Continuous sitting for long hours, lifting of heavy baggage and excessive stress sometimes results in back pain.

Madhya Pradesh in India is rich in herbal diversity. Tribals of this state still rely up on the traditional ways of treating various health disorders. This article deals with tribals of Chhindwara district with special reference to Patalkot valley. Gonds and Bharias constitute major population in this region. Patalkot valley is home to tribal culture and customs. Here, life-supporting facilities are lacking therefore, they are more or less dependent upon the natural resources.

Bhumkas (local herbal healers) and few older people in Patalkot know the secrets of herbal healings. Such knowledge, which is verbalized and is limited only to them, may be erased in near future. Considering these facts, it was aimed to document folklore medicines used for the treatment of various disorders. In this article, few herbal practices to cure back pain are mentioned in brief, which are as follow:

Seed extract of Abrus precatorius (Gunja) is applied over the painful body part to get relief. About 60 to 180 mg seeds are taken for the preparation of decoction. The decoction is said to relive the nervous disorder. Rajelal, a herbal healer in Chimtipur village of Patalkot, prefers to give crushed Gunja leaves with Allium sativum (Lahsun) for relieving the back pain. According to him, direct application of seeds may cause dysentery; thus it should be boiled in cow-milk before any application so that the toxicity is removed. Peel off the seeds and wash it in boiled water. The seeds are now ready to be used for the treatment.

Monje Lal Bharti, a Bhumka of Kareyam village in Patalkot says, "Dried buds of Allium sativum (Lahsun) are effective in Sciatica or any other back pain." About 40 gm dried buds of the plant should be mixed with 500 ml milk and boiled in 4 litre water for 30 mins. The decoction is then given to patients suffering from severe back pain" he later adds. He also advises regular intake of at least 4 Garlic buds in the morning to relieve persisting pain.

Rhizome of Nyctanthes arbor-tristis (Parijat) plant should be crushed and mixed with Piper longum (Lendi Pipper) and Alium sativum (Lahsun). This combination should be applied over the painful body parts.

Decoction of the Ruta graveolens (Sitab) whole plant is applied in back pain, lumbar and paralytic weakness. About 500 gm Sitab is boiled in 1.5 litre water for 30 min and filtered. Three milliliter extract is applied on the most affected part of the body.

In sciatica, equal proportion of Zingiber officinale (Adrak) powder and Ocimum sanctum (Tulsi) leaves are mixed in Ricinus communis (Arandi) oil and applied externally.

Piper longum (Lendi Pipper) fruits, Solanum virginianum (Bhatkataiya) whole plant, Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) roots, Terminalia chebula (Harra) fruits, Emblica officinalis (Aonla) fruits are taken in equal amount and powdered. The powder is then added in Sesamum indicum (Til) oil and applied topically over the painful part.

About 200 gm bark of Moringa oleifera (Munga) is ground and boiled with water. Entire amount of water is then allowed to be evaporated and the paste collected thus is mixed with 100g Curcuma amada (Amba Haldi) paste and 100g Piper nigrum (Kali Mirch) powder. Tablets (5gm) are prepared and 2 tablets twice a day is given to the patient (Acharya and Shrivastava, 2008).

The herbal formulations/ herbal practices mentioned in this article are for information purposes only. Readers should consult their family doctors before applying any of the above mentioned formulations. Author has documented indigenous herbal practices of local healers of Patalkot and prepared a traditional knowledge digital library with a purpose to validate it scientifically. In the whole process, Abhumka Herbal Pvt Ltd is committed to safeguard the IPR of individual healer. The above mentioned formulations are being practiced commonly among the tribal community.

Reference

Acharya, Deepak and Shrivastava Anshu (2008): Indigenous Herbal Medicines: Tribal Formulations and Traditional Herbal Practices, Aavishkar Publishers Distributor, Jaipur- India. ISBN 9788179102527. pp 440.