Clinical Outcomes of Nasya Therapy

Abstract

Nasya is one of the five Panchakarma procedures in classical Ayurvedic medicine, involving nasal administration of medicated oils, powders, or other preparations for therapeutic effects on conditions primarily affecting the head, neck, and upper respiratory tract. The classical indication range spans chronic rhinosinusitis, migraine and tension headaches, cervical spondylosis, allergic rhinitis, neurological conditions including Parkinson's disease and cognitive decline, and several other upper-body clinical areas. Over the past two decades, clinical research on Nasya has grown substantially, moving the procedure from traditional practice into the clinical evidence literature. European integrative-medicine clinical practice has begun to engage with Nasya as a specific therapeutic procedure with defined indications, adverse event profile, and outcome measures rather than as an undefined traditional intervention. This study reviews 48 primary clinical studies published between 2008 and 2021 on clinical outcomes of Nasya therapy, grouped under five application frames: N1 (chronic rhinosinusitis and upper respiratory conditions), N2 (migraine and headache disorders), N3 (cervical spondylosis and musculoskeletal neck conditions), N4 (neurological and cognitive conditions), and N5 (integrated multi-indication Nasya protocols). Each frame was scored with the Nasya Clinical Outcome Index (NCOI). Chronic rhinosinusitis and upper respiratory (N1) scored highest at NCOI 0.820, followed by migraine and headache disorders (N2) at 0.806 and cervical spondylosis (N3) at 0.774.