Medicinal Plants for Inflammatory Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a debilitating disease and its features are progressive destruction of bones and cartilage. Allopathic medicine comprising anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory drugs have the limitations of emergence of non-responders and several adverse effects. Herbal drugs due to their safety, economy and easy availability could be better alternates in this scenario. Considerable work had been done on antiarthritic plants and some of them are available commercially, based on the traditional uses and scientific reports. The primary objective of this review is to give a brief description of antiarthritic herbs that have the history of human use and their antiarthritic activity. Antiarthritic activity has been evaluated in animal models, cell-lines studies and clinical trials. In this review 72 medicinal plants having antiarthritic property has been analyzed.