Study of Gross Anatomy of Ten Nila Sthana in the Head and Neck Region

Abstract

Nila treatment is an important treatment modality which is used in the field of Indigenous medicine since Anuradhapura era. At present, this has been used by few of traditional practitioners in Sri Lanka. Although the large number ofnila points of the body have been recorded, the reported evidence of gross anatomical structures related to these nila points are very poor. Therefore, the research was designed to identify the gross anatomical structures of the nila point. In this study nine nila points at the head and neck region, recorded in standard Ayurveda texts were identified in the cadaver. They were dissected and structures at eachnila point were identified and compared with the standard Anatomy text. They are ''thelwala'' (eight anguliup to the top of nose), the roots of two ears, ''his muduna''(the top of the head), the point one anguliup to the ears, ''urameda'' (middle of the front of two shoulders), the point two anguli lateral to the two eyes,''kammulabubula'' (the top of two cheeks), the point of middle of the forehead, the point at lateral end of the eye brows. Then gross structures at nila points were identified and recorded. At the point of''thelwala'', the bregma of skull was observed. At the point of the root of ear, facial nerve in which it gives terminal branches were observed, at the point of ''his muduna'' branches of superficial temporal artery and vein were observed, at the point of one anguli up to the ear, superficial temporal artery and vein were observed, at the point of'''urameda'' middle space at the point, two sternocleidomastoid muscles and the manubrium was observed, at the point of two anguli lateral to the eyes, zygomatico orbital artery was observed, at the point of ''kammulabubula'' edge of zygomaticus muscle was observed, at the point of middle of the forehead procerus was observed ,at the point of lateral end of the eyebrow temporal branches of facial nerve was observed. These findings revealed that some of the important gross anatomical structures present at the nilapoints in the head and neck region