Obesity can be defined as an excessive fat accumulation that increases the risk of health problems presents a risk to health. A body mass index (BMI) over 25 is considered as overweight, and over 30 is obese. The issue has grown to epidemic proportions, with over 4 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese in 2017 according to the global burden of disease. Rates of overweight and obesity continue to grow in adults and children. From 1975 to 2016, the prevalence of overweight or obese children and adolescents aged 5–19 years increased more than four-fold from 4% to 18% globally.
In Ayurveda obesity is described under the heading of Sthoulya which means a person having heaviness and bulkiness of the body due to excessive collection of fat is called obese (sthula) and the condition is called Obesity (sthoulya)
Integrative medicine primarily focuses on prevention to support better health prior to disease occurrence, as well as strengthening the body’s inborn ability to heal itself, promoting lifestyle changes, mind-body medication, and in-depth patient education.
We had a male patient aged 47 years with obesity associated with B/L knee pain since 5 years. Putting on body weight was high every 6 months due to irregular food habits and craving for junk. He also had a disturbed sleep and work stress.
Treatment at VHG:
Patient underwent a prescribed internal & external treatment such as virechana (includes 5 days of snehapana, sarvanga abhyanga and virechana) and 7 days of sarvanga podikizhi. Thought him a yoga practices to increase the metabolic rate and reduce the body weight for 5 days. Now he is following yoga regularly with the advised diet and some ayurvedic medicines.
Pre and post changes:
| Pre | Post | |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 113kg | 104kg |
| Fat | 45.4% | 38.6% |
| Visceral fat | 27 | 23 |
| BMI | 39.9 | 36.4 |
| RM | 1945 | 1734 |
| Fat | 78 years | 73 years |
