Analgesic potential of medicinal plants used by the tribes of Western Himalayan region of India: A systematic review Balkrishna Acharya1,2, Nag Sakshi1, Dabas Anurag1, Arya Vedpriya1,2,* 1Patanjali Herbal Research Department, Patanjali Research Institute, Haridwar-249405, Uttarakhand, India 2University of Patanjali, Patanjali Yogpeeth, Haridwar-249405, Uttarakhand, India *Corresponding author e-mail: vedpriya.arya@prft.co.in
Online Published on 16 August, 2022. Abstract Herbal remedies are an alternative for analgesic treatment since they have the least adverse effects. Furthermore, indigenous tribes in India's western Himalayan region have employed a variety of herbs with high analgesic properties. With this concern, the present study intended to summarize the comprehensive ethnomedicinal knowledge of indigenous tribes regarding analgesic latent in a systematic way. A total of 19 tribes in four states/UT Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, and Uttarakhand have consulted about 242 medicinal plants from 184 genera and 83 families which are used to relieve pain. The Gujjar and Bakarwal tribes have significant traditional knowledge of the ethnomedicinal usage of medicinal plants. A survey based on tribal healing practices concluded that headache and stomachache is a serious health issue that can be mitigated by employing herbal medication. Artemisia genus, as well as Saussurea costus were the main plant species that were utilized by tribal peoples to alleviate pain. Herbal plants were used to treat pain in the form of powder, decoction, and paste, although the leaves and roots of medicinal species offered enormous analgesic potential. It is concluded that the study's findings may be useful in the development of evidence-based alternative herbal-based medicines with commendable analgesic effects. Top Keywords Analgesic, Ethnomedicinal, Himalayan region, Medicinal plant, Tribes. Top |