Effect of Vamana Dhauti on Pulmonary Function Test among Bronchial Asthma patients A Randomized Controlled Trial

Bronchial asthma is a chronic disease of airways, identified by bronchial

hyper-reactivity and varying degrees of airway blockage  with the

associated symptoms of chest tightness, wheezing, coughing, and dyspnea.The prevalence of self-reported asthma in India was 1.8% (95% CI 1.6-2.0) in men and 1.9% (95% CI 1.8-2.0) in women, with rates higher in rural than in urban areas and significant geographic differences . There are presently over 300 million asthma cases present globally, or about a quarter of the worlds population and about 10th of those living in India.Asthma risk factors include gene-by-environment interactions.

Environmental factors, such as infections and endotoxin exposure, can act as protective or risk factors in children and adolescents, depending on when they are exposed. There are some well-established prenatal risk factors, such as maternal smoking, but others, such as diet and nutrition, stress, the use of antibiotics, and delivery methods, may also have an impact on the early onset of allergy and asthma.The following four mechanisms are the primary causes of

airway blockage in bronchial asthma-

(1) Bronchial smooth muscle contraction

(2) Edema of the airway walls,

(3) bronchial tube obstruction by mucus, and

(4) Irreversible changes to the lungs (remodeling)

Nowadays patients are being prescribed higher doses of Inhaled

corticosteroids for a longer duration this leads to oropharyngeal candidiasis and dysphonia are major side effects of ICS treatments and other dose- dependent systemic effects are suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal axis, bone loss, skin thinning, increased cataract development, glaucoma, metabolic changes, and behavioral abnormalities.It is considered that the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has minimum side effects as compared to any other system of medicine and it is also cost-effective.Patients having

asthma use complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) to improve

their asthma symptoms.According to Hath yoga, yoga is a physical practice that helps to control asthma by connecting the body and mind through the breath and allowing them to function as a single unit.In yoga Six purification techniques are mentioned in the Hatha Yoga,

which is considered to balance a person constitution. These six yogic purification techniques referred to as shatkarma or shatkriya are claimed to promote health and well-being.The Shatkriya technique includes dhauti (internal cleansing), Basti (yogic enema), neti (cleaning of nasal passage), trataka (concentrated gazing), nauli (abdominal massaging) and kapalabhati (frontal sinus cleansing). The major goal of Shatkriya is to bring the body’s three tridoshas —(kapha) mucus, (pitta) bile, and (vata) wind —into harmony. Dhauti means & internal cleansing.Vamana is the shatkarma technique which involves 2-3 liters of warm saline water drinking slowly and trying to induce voluntary vomiting  . Warm water helps dissolve fat, lose weight, aid in digestion, and lessen excess Kapha Toxins are removed from cells by osmosis with the aid of salt water. It is a purifying procedure that enhances hunger, enhances appetite,

normalizes bowel movements, somewhat relieves the heaviness felt in the

stomach after eating and enhances sleep patterns.The regular practice of Vamana dhauti on healthy volunteers contributed to improved vagal tone and pulmonary functioning. These results were based on rise in forced inspiratory volume and slow vital capacity, in addition to decrease in expiratory reserve volume and respiratory rate.In a 2019 study conducted by V Singh on seven patients “Kunjal: A Nonspecific Protective Factor in Management of Bronchial Asthma. In this paper, he took only PEFR as a parameter and found that after kunjal kriya, the asthmatic parameters showed significant improvement both during the first week and the week after the maneuver. Till now no study has been done as a randomized controlled trial on the effect of Vaman dhauti in PFT parameters

among bronchial asthma patients.