Efficacy of Hot and Dry Bath (H ˙ amma¯ mi-Ha¯ r-Ya¯ bis) in Activities of Daily Living for Management of Post Stroke Hemiplegia: An Exploratory Clinical Trial

Introduction: Hemiplegia (Fa¯ lij) is usually caused due to obstruction (sudda) in ventricles of brain (butu¯ n-i-dima¯ gh) or base of the brain (mabda-un-nukha). Viscid and tenacious phlegm (Balgham) chokes the passages present in the nerves and blocks the transmission of motor impulses (Ru¯ h-i-Muharrik) into the organs to cause paralysis of a limb. Rarely, in the absence of any obstruction, the paralysis occurs due to unresponsiveness of organs due to their changed constitution (Sue-Miza¯ j-i-A'za¯ ). Turkish bath (H ? amma¯ m) is recommended for the resolution (Tahllul) and evacuation (Tanqiya) of viscid phlegm (Ghaleez Balgham) from impacted nerves by virtue of heat therapy to rejuvenate the motor functions in hemiplegia.

Aim: To evaluate the effect of hot and dry bath (H ? amma¯ m-i-Ha¯ rYa¯ bis) in activities of daily living in management of post stroke hemiplegia.

Materials and Methods: This open, single arm, exploratory clinical trial was conducted during January 2018 to February 2019 at NIUM hospital, Bangalore, on 30 diagnosed patients of post stroke hemiplegia. Patients were subjected with hot dry bath for 15 minutes at a temperature of 60°C from day 1st till 30th day. A total of 10 sittings were given on every 3rd day. Barthel Index (BI), which consists of Activities of Daily Living (ADL), was used to assess the efficacy of hot and dry bath in the patients of hemiplegia. Friedman's test with Dunn's multiple comparison test was used to assess the efficacy of the treatment.

Results: The mean age of the participants in the study was 42.54±3.3 with male dominance. Statistically significant improvement was observed in BI scores between pretreatment to 15th day (p<0.01); 15th to 30th day (p<0.001) and pretreatment to 30th day (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Hot and dry bath significantly improved the activities of daily living in the patients of post stroke hemiplegia. Another benefit of this therapy is infrequent and mild severity of side effects as compared to the oral medications in conventional system of medicine for post stroke neurodisabilities.