Abstract

ANGULI PRAMANA AS A TOOL FOR ASSESSMENT OF HEALTH STATUS W.R.T. BMI

Megha Bahuguna* and Shivam Vaidh

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Abstract

Anguli Praman is a very important tool in every branch of medical science for clinical practice. The word ‘Praman’ is related to measurement. In lack of measuring equipments, our acharyas used Anguli, i.e., finger as measuring tool. They were fully aware of the importance of Anguli Praman clinically. They had Anguli Praman as the only means of measurement but still today, where we have number of advanced tools for anthropometric measurements; finger measurement is used as easy and inexpensive way. So it was not the way but the vision of giving Anthropometry that importance in clinical practice by ancient practitioners. In this study, importance of anguli praman in the assessment of the health status of an individual is shown with the help of BMI as a prime parameter. BMI is a reliable indicator of health state of a body. It is used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems. This study provides BMI and the corresponding weight categories of different people selected for the work. Body mass index (BMI) is a weight of a person in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. BMI is a cheap and easy screening method for different categories of weight—underweight, healthy weight, overweight, and obesity. Furthermore, BMI appears to be as strongly correlated with various metabolic disorders and disease outcome. In ayurveda, anthropometry is explained in terms of anguli praman and it can be used as an important tool to signify a healthy or an unhealthy state of a body. It is emphasised as Sama purusha i.e. equal Aayama and Vistara brings excellent ayu with enhance metabolic activity, strength and happiness. The present study has undertaken Charaka’s anthropometric measurement of 84 Angula in relation to Aayama and Vistara with reference of BMI.

Keywords: Anguli Praman, Anthropometry, BMI, Obesity, Healthy Weight, Underweight.