ABSTRACT
Background: Hypothyroidism reflects decreased thyroid function and is one of the most common conditions seen in clinical practice. Practice of naturopathy and yoga has shown improvement in anthropometric variables and lipid profile in obesity and other chronic diseases. So, the aim of this study was to find out the effect of naturopathy and yoga in obese hypothyroid patients.Methods: A total of 60 subjects, of which 29 males (age 44.2±7.0 years) and 31 females (age 40.6±7.4 years) with body mass index (BMI), ?30 were randomly assigned to case group (n=30) and wait list control group (n=30). The subjects of case group underwent naturopathy and yoga intervention for 10 days. Anthropometric variables, viz., body weight, BMI, waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference, serum lipid profile, and serum thyroid profile were assessed at 1st day (pre), at the end of 10 day (post).Results: The result showed a significant reduction in body weight, BMI, WC, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) along with significant improvement in high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) in case group compared with control group in independent samples t test. Significant reduction in body weight, BMI, total cholesterol, LDL-C and TSH were observed in case group unlike in control group in student's paired t test.Conclusions: Reduction in the body weight, BMI and improvement in serum lipid profile and serum thyroid profile in case group subjects compared to control group suggest that naturopathy and yoga have therapeutic and protective effects in the management of obese hypothyroid patients.
ABSTRACT
A 48‑year‑old married woman diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 2007, came to our hospital in July 2014 with the complaint of severe pain and swelling over multiple joints, especially over small joints, which was associated with stiffness (more in morning), deformities of fingers and toes, with disturbed sleep and poor quality of life (QOL) for the past 7 years. She received a combination of electro acupuncture (14 sessions), massage (18 sessions), mud (18 sessions), and sauna (3 sessions) (EMMS) therapies for 30‑min, 45‑min, 30‑min, and 15‑min per session, respectively for 3 weeks. During and postintervention assessment showed reduction in visual analog scale score for pain, Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores. It also showed an increase in the scores of 10‑Meter Walk Test, isometric hand‑grip test, and short form‑36 version‑2 health survey. This result suggest that, the EMMS therapy might be considered as an effective treatments in reducing pain, depression, anxiety, and stress with improvement in physical functions, quality of sleep and QOL in patient with RA. EMMS therapies were tolerated and no side effects were reported by the patient. Though the results are encouraging, further studies are required with larger sample size and advanced inflammatory markers.