Eructation (Josha') in the perspective of Iranian Traditional Medicine

Background and Some times Josha' or belching may repeat frequently and interferes with daily social activities and quality of life. The modern medicine couldnt recognize all types and the etiologies of belching yet. So it is necessary to use complementary medicine. It seems that review of the term, classification and etiology of belching in Iranian Traditional Medicine can help to treatment.
Methods and Materials: This study is a library research. We found the synonyms for "Eructation" and "Belching" in the dictionaries and then We used "Noor Digital library of medicine" and searched for the keyword "Josha’" and "Arough" in the original texts from the third to the fourteenth century including Al-Hawi, kamelo-ssanaato-tebbiyah, Al-qanun Fil-Tibb (canon of medicine), Zakhireh kharazmshahi, Tebbe Akbari and sharhol-asbab val-alamat.
All of the books had the same view about three characteristics in the definition of Josha'. Josha' or eructation is the ejection of gas or air through the mouth from the stomach. Josha' was classified into two categories: normal and abnormal. Abnormal Josha' was classified into three main groups based on the type of abnormal smell: sour, stinky, with smell of the food that has been eaten. The etiologies of Josha’ in Iranian Traditional Medicine was divided into two general categories: internal and external. Stomach diseases, and diseases in other organs such as the spleen, intestine and catarrh are internal causes. External causes, refers to life style factors like the foods and eating habits.
This study shows that the belching definition and mechanism is very similar to Josha'. There is some defects in classification and treatment of belching in new researches such as Rome IV Diagnostic Criteria. Those neglected points are the role of some causing factors and the smell of the eructation. It seems that attention to these small tips can greatly improve the treatment steps.