Abstract

Traditional medicinal plants are practiced worldwide for treatment of arthritis especially in developing countries like India. This article presents the selected plants inhabiting throughout the world regarding their traditional usage by various tribes/ethnic groups for treatment of arthritis. Antioxidant investigation was carried out by analysing classical text books and peer reviewed papers, consulting worldwide accepted scientific databases from the last six decades. Plants and their two types of extracts mainly hydro and alcoholic was further tested for their antioxidant activity by in vitro method. This study concludes that among the four plants selected alcoholic extract of Vitex negundo is more potent and comparable to standard. The purpose of this study was to conduct a study to examine the evidence for the use of herbal medicines for anti arthritic potential based on the scientific methods. Further the work will be focused on the impact of herbs in managing arthritic patient.