Background & Aims: Oja-e-mafasel is an important issue of Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM) with high prevalence, high costs, and severe disabilities that affects the society. In modern medicine treatment of joint pain in most cases is limited to symptomatic treatment and pain control, but in ITM, treatment protocol is performed according to pain mechanisms.

 Materials & Methods: This study was a review article to investigate the causes of joint pain in valid Iranian Traditional Medicine references, such as The Canon of Medicine by “Avicenna”. First we focused on oja-e-mafasel in ITM references and then tried to match them with modern references.

 Results: The main causes of joint pain are divided into two categories: simple (sadah), and material (maddy) pains. In simple pain special qualities of coldness and warmth and dryness are effective, and in the material type, the pathogenic role of the joint pain refers to some substances and not to qualities.

 Conclusion Prospective view of modern medicine and a holistic view of traditional medicine are diverse. Some of mechanisms described in ITM references were unexplained in modern medicine, and this survey can help to carry out more comprehensive and effective investigations in this field.

  SOURCE: URMIA MED J 2014: 25(6): 539 ISSN: 1027-3727