Ayurveda Telehealth and Online Consultations: What to Know

What this page covers

Online Ayurvedic consultations include video or phone calls, chat, and apps that connect you with a practitioner. This page explains the limits and what to check. It is not a recommendation of any service. For the in-person version, see Your first Ayurvedic visit.

What is lost without an in-person exam

Traditional assessment relies on looking, touching and questioning, including pulse and tongue examination. See pulse diagnosis (Nadi Pariksha) and tongue and eight-fold examination. Pulse cannot be felt over a camera. Authors of one Ayurvedic clinic's pilot of video consultations during the COVID-19 lockdown named the inability to have a physical examination, which they called one of the most crucial components of a medical consultation, as a key limitation. [1] They also named access to a smartphone, internet and the app, and the legal standing of prescriptions from remote consultations, as limitations. [1]

Evidence label: for remote Ayurvedic assessment itself, Proper evidence not found. We searched PubMed titles and abstracts for Ayurveda together with telemedicine, teleconsultation or telehealth and found 11 records; we did not read them, so we make no claim about their findings. The clinic report we did read was a small pilot that its own authors said was not supported with adequate data. [1]

Guidance in India

The Central Council of Indian Medicine issued a detailed guideline in 2020 on telemedicine practice for Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani practitioners. [1] According to that clinic report, the guideline treats consent as implied when the patient starts the call, and recommends keeping records of consultations such as call logs, chat records or images. [1] We could not read the guideline itself, and it may have been updated since, so check the current position with India's regulator. For background, see Ayurveda in modern India and Ayurvedic training in India.

In the United States there is no significant regulation of Ayurvedic practice or education, and no state requires a practitioner to have a license. [2] An online listing therefore does not tell you whether someone is qualified.

Good uses and poor uses

See when an Ayurvedic assessment is not enough. Do not use Ayurvedic medicine to postpone seeing a conventional provider about a medical problem. [2]

Checks before booking

• Ask about training, registration and location, using the practitioner checklist and questions to ask.
• Ask whether they will work with your doctor. [5]
• Ask who sees your health information and how it is stored.
• Do not assume insurance will pay; ask your insurer. [5]
• Be wary of quizzes that "find your dosha"; see dosha quizzes.

Apps and websites

NCCIH suggests asking of any new site or app: who runs or created it, do its claims seem too good to be true, and is it selling something? [6] See finding reliable information.

Products bought after an online visit

Products ordered through a consultation can still contain metals. The FDA says such products typically are not labeled to contain heavy metals such as lead, mercury or arsenic. [4] Read buying Ayurvedic products safely, and tell your doctor about anything you start. [7]