Herbal Medicine and Rheumatic Disorders Management and Prevention

Rheumatoid disorder is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the joints that causes discomfort, inflexibility, swelling, deformity, and sometimes disability. Its cause remains a mystery. The severity of irreversible joint degradation may be mitigated with early diagnosis and therapy with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, as recommended by the American Academy of Rheumatology. Although effective treatments were quickly identified, harmful side effects often undermine their effectiveness. Herbal treatments are gaining in popularity and effectiveness for several forms of arthritis. According to a recent US poll, 90% of people with rheumatoid arthritis use complementary therapy, like herbal medications. The evidence for herbal treatments for four prevalent arthritic conditions back pain, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis is briefly reviewed in this chapter. Some plants commonly used for the prevention or therapy of rheumatoid disorder are Zingiber officinale, Piper methysticum, Ephedra sp., Oenothera biennis, Panax ginseng, Ginkgo biloba, Allium sativum, Ganoderma lucidum, Tripterygium wilfordii, Uncaria tomentosa, Boswellia serrata, Tinospora cordifolia, Tinospora cordifolia, Tribulus terrestris, Curcuma longa, Caesalpinia sappan, Clematis mandshurica, Rosmarinus officinalis, Elaeagnus angustifolia, Crocus sativus, Camellia sinensis, Matricaria chamomilla, Punica granatum, Cinnamomum cassia, Centella asiatica, Phyllanthus amarus, Psidium guajava, Moringa oleifera, Nigella sativa, Cannabis sativa, Andrographis paniculata, Artemisia annua, and Piper betle. The possibility of treating rheumatic diseases using these plants as well as the chemical components that have this impact will be discussed in silico, in vitro, in vivo, and in clinical terms.