CHENNAI: Back pain is one of the most frequent complaints in human being. Recent studies reveal the fact that five out of ten adults have back pain every year. Back pain can be constant or intermittent in nature.
Needless to elaborate the pain in words as we are all experiencing it. Other than complex anatomical reasons; non-anatomical factors like over stress, repressed anger and mental depression can also cause or intensify back pain. Why do we suffer? It is only due to our ignorance. Yes. We are not aware that plenty of herbs prescribed in our ancient systems of medicine to kill the back pain and number of recipes to ease the mental aggression. Resin of Shallaki is the best as an anti-inflammatory drug prescribed by our traditional systems of medicine, but least known to us.
The advantage of boswellic acid or boswellin extracted from the resinous exudation is that it can be administered orally as well as applied locally to affected joints to relieve inflammation associated with back pain especially low back pain.
Salai Guggal is botanically known as Boswellia Serrata Roxb. ex Colebr. belongs to the Dhoop family Burseraceae. B Serrata is popularly branded as Indian Frankincense. It is a delightful tree with lovable textured bark and effective for back pain. It is also used in skin diseases, jaundice, ulcers, piles, diarrhoea and dysentery.
Indian Frankincense is a deciduous tree reaches up to 15 m tall with spreading crown. Bark greenish-yellow, smooth, exfoliating in thin, papery flakes, exudes fragrant resin when injured. Leaves clustered at the ends of branchlets, up to 20 cm long and 6 cm broad; individual leaflets 10-15 pairs. Inflorescence branched, to 15 cm long, borne in leaf axils. Flowers 1 cm across; petals pinkish-white with pink tinge. Fruits are drupes, to 1.5 x 1 cm, 3-gonous, splitting along 3 valves, yellowish-brown. Seeds 3, solitary in each locule. All parts of the plant emit faint fragrance. Flowering and fruiting occurs during January to May. This tree is leafless when flowering, worth seeing the new foliage that begins when the tree is in fruiting stage.
Salai Guggal is endemic (confined only) to India. In India, it is reported from Punjab, Centra Indian States and Sothern India. Commonly grows in deciduous forests from lower elevations to 1150 m Above Sea Level, in dry, rocky ferruginous soil and occasionally forms major component of the deciduous forests. Salai or Loban in Hindi and Marathi. Bili dhoopa, Ven kungiliam, Tella guggilamu are the names in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu respectively in allusion to the white-coloured nature of solidified resin. Malayalam vernacular is Kunthrikam.