There are five varieties of medical treatments available in Kerala.
1. Ayurveda
2. Allopathy
3.Homoeo
4.Sidhha and
5.Unani
Ayurveda is considered as the medical practice of our own. It is a traditional one. Before allopathy is popularised Kerala depended on Ayurveda. The important character of this medical treatment is that it is used mainly medicinal plants. Kerala is enriched with hundreds of medicinal plants. No chemicals are used for preparing medicines. So there is no side effects. Medicines named as "Kashayam, Lehyam and Arishtam are used for oral use and "Kuzhambu. Kachenna and Powder are used for external use.
It is based on three assumptions. Every disease is relating to deficiency of blood, food and air. The diseases are named as "Rhematism, Muscus and Pancreatic juice. Rhematism is related to air, Muscus is related to water and Pancreatic juice is related to food.
In Kerala there are three Govt. Ayurvedic colleges, one in TVM second in Tripunithura (EKM) and Third in Kannur. There are also two private Ayurveda colleges- Ollur (TCR) and Kottackal (Malappuram)
There are several Massage Parlours in connection with Ayurveda in different parts of kerala
