Ayurvedic medical practitioners from 13 States stayed glued to the demonstration on ‘Sirodhara’ conducted as part of the Continuing Medical Education (CME) currently under way at TTD’s Sri Venkateswara Ayurvedic College.
‘Sirodhara’, the process of pouring lukewarm medicated oil, buttermilk or ‘kashaya’ (plant decoction) is a ‘panchakarma’ therapy popular across the world, aimed at treating stress-related disorders, sleeplessness, anxiety neurosis and migraine headaches. The college is one of the 23 Ayurvedic institutions in India selected by the Ministry of AYUSH to train medical officers and Ayurvedic practitioners in ‘panchakarma’ to refresh their knowledge with research updates, clinical skills, theory and practices. As KSR. Prasad, professor and head of the Department of Panchakarma at LN Ayurveda College, Bhopal, demonstrated ‘sirodhara,’ the delegates observed how ‘panchakarma’ is administered.
“Our department executes 128 different therapies every day,” said the coordinator P. Muralikrishna, a professor and head of panchakarma at SV Ayurvedic College. Even the Mechatronics Department of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, has conducted research on standardising this procedure by regulating flowmetry of the dhara, viscosity of oils and temperature variables to develop a robot for executing ‘sirodhara.’ The study also identified that the procedure naturally induces sleep and improves stress adaptation, he added.
A.S. Prashanth, principal of Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya, Hubli, demonstrated sweat-inducing procedures ( ‘sweda karma’) for the trainees. The week-long programme ends on December 21.
