~ 92 ~ International Journal of Homoeopathic Sciences 2020; 4(2): 92-97 E-ISSN: 2616-4493 P-ISSN: 2616-4485 www.homoeopathicjournal.com IJHS 2020; 4(2): 92-97 Received: 07-02-2020 Accepted: 09-03-2020 Gurudev Choubey Research Officer (H), Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India Dhiraj Debnath Senior Research, Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India Varanasi Roja Research Officer (H), Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India Jaya Gupta Research Officer (H), Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India Abhiram Banerjee Research Associate (H), Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India Corresponding Author: Gurudev Choubey Research Officer(H), Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India Managing pain and stiffness through individualized homoeopathy in lumbar spondylosis: Results of a prospective consecutive case series Gurudev Choubey, Dhiraj Debnath, Varanasi Roja, Jaya Gupta and Abhiram Banerjee DOI: https://doi.org/10.33545/26164485.2020.v4.i2b.153 Abstract Background: Low back pain affects approximately 60 – 85% of adults during some point in their lives and LS is responsible for about 10 % of all the back-pain. Common conventional treatments like NSAIDS and Epidural steroid injections (ESI) deleterious side effects. Objectives: This case series of lumbar spondylosis presented here tries to show response to individualized homoeopathic medicine in context of pain, stiffness through Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and RODQ. Method: Patients with spondylotic changes in lumbar spine were included in this case series. Individualized homoeopathic medicines were prescribed in singledose in each case and followed up every 2 weeks for eight months. Pain and stiffness in every case was assessed using Visual Analog Scale (VAS) at baseline and every two weeks for eight months. Revised Oswestry disability questionnaire (RODQ) scoresto assess quality of life was used at baseline and at the end of 8 months. Results: Mean VAS score for pain reduced from 78.07 ± 13.72mm (baseline)to 38 ± 25.55 mm (end); 95% CI: 22.05 - 58.09; P<0.05. Stiffness reduced from 65.10 ± 16.35 (baseline) to 16.50 ± 10.01 mm (end); 95% CI: 34.88 – 62.32; P<0.05. Mean RODQ score reduced from 31.64± 3.20 (baseline) to 13.57± 7.06 (end); 95%CI: 13.21 – 22.93; P<0.05. Conclusion: The results has trend showing positive role of homoeopathic medicines in management symptoms related to lumbar spondylosis. Controlled clinical studies are warranted. Keywords: Case series, lumbar spondylosis, homoeopathy, RODQ Introduction Lumbar Spondylosis (LS) is defined as degenerative condition affecting the discs, vertebral bodies and associated joints of the lumbar spine. Low back pain affects approximately 60 – 85 % of adults during some point in their lives and LS is responsible for about 10 % of all the backpain conditions [1, 2] . Conventional medical treatment like NSAIDS and Epidural steroid injections (ESI) have become a common interventional strategy in the management of lumbar spondylosis and these medications are having deleterious effects like large intestinal ulcers, bleeding, perforation, non-specific colitis and meningitis, arachnoiditis respectively. 3- 4 CAM (Complementary/ Alternative medicine) therapy is being popular in patients with musculoskeletal disorders including low back pain [5, 6] A high prevalence of CAM use in rheumatic patients is observed in the United States(18– 94%), Canada (60–91%), Mexico(56–83%), Australia (40–82%), Germany (78%) and India (43–72%) [7] . There are very few papers published for effectiveness of homoeopathy in low back pain (LBP) [8, 9] but there is paucity of studies specifically regarding the homoeopathic treatment of LS [10] . In one study it has been shown that homoeopathy is efficacious in significant decrease of Oswestry score of LBP in compared to standardized physiotherapy and in another study, it was seen that classical homeopathic treatment represented an effective treatment for low back pain and it improved health-related QoL and reduces the use of other healthcare services. This paper presents a series of 17consecutive cases clinically and radio logically diagnosed as lumbar spondylosis and their response to individualized homoeopathic medicine in context of pain, stiffness functional disability through Visual Analog Scale (VAS) [11] and Revised Oswestry disability questionnaire (RODQ) [12-15] for quality of life.