How Traditional Medicine can be the Cornerstone of Integrative Medicine Diagnosis
Ayurveda is the sister-science of Yoga. The cornerstone of Ayurveda is its holistic approach to health and treating disease using natural remedies derived from medicinal plants and minerals.
Prakriti is a key concept in Ayurveda. It explains biological specificity at the cellular and genomic level. It categorises the population into several subgroups. Prakriti, thus refers to genetically determined physical and mental constitution of an individual.
The concept has been used for over 5,000 years to predict an individual’s susceptibility to a particular disease, prognosis of that illness and selection of therapy.
As Integrative Medicine trends to a new era of system biology for holistic understanding of diseases through the integration of metabolomics, proteomics and transcriptomics, the tenets of Ayurveda and subsequent integration of Ayurveda phenotyping in complex diseases has the potential to be the least invasive and most affordable form of assessing an individual’s susceptibility and prognosis. Furthermore, it provides accurate and sustainable dietary recommendations and an insight into therapeutic interventions (Ayurvedic or non –Ayurvedic) in each individual patient.
We can be limited in our thinking if we believe that only one system of medicine is correct. Every system of medicine has its limitations, and so a strategic integrative approach rather “mix and match of therapies” is the ‘best –practice’ model in treating numerous ailments. Therefore the best practice model would utilise the strengths of Ayurvedic diagnosis for:
• Clinical biotyping
• Lifestyle Modification Advice
• Dietary recommendation
This approach would strategically integrate with your current in-house therapies (allopathy and CAM) or through external referral. The program could be structured using:
• Patient intake forms assessment (for biotyping and determination of root cause )
• Patient preference
• Emotional/ Physical causative factors
• Previous experience of practitioner
• Therapy success
Process Flow Chart
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