Old Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor Zhu Liangchun’s Experience in Treating Arthritis 1980.12.13

Old Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor Zhu Liangchun’s Experience in Treating Arthritis 1980.12.13

1. Pay attention to tongue and pulse: ① White and greasy coating indicates excess dampness, yellow and greasy coating indicates damp-heat. ② Deep, thin, and moist pulse indicates excess dampness, while damp-heat pulses are often large, moist, and frequent; floating and slow pulses indicate dampness on the surface, while deep and slow pulses indicate dampness inside. Use processed aconite for white and greasy coatings.

2. When treating arthritis, always focus on removing wind, which is the standard approach. However, wind medicines are warm and dry, easily damaging yin, so always use yin-nourishing and blood-tonifying medicines together, following the principle of “treat wind first, then harmonize blood; when blood is harmonized, wind naturally disappears.” Old Doctor Zhu chooses whole angelica as the sole ingredient, paired with raw rehmannia and dendrobium, to counteract the dryness of wind medicines.

3. Arthritis is a chronic disease that penetrates deeply into the meridians, so it cannot be defeated by insect-like remedies. Old Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor Zhu Liangchun is skilled at using whole scorpion, centipede, black snake, bee hive, soil beetle, silkworm pupa, dung beetle, and other insect-like remedies.

4. Most cases of arthritis are cold-related, and cold easily damages yang, so Old Doctor Zhu often uses aconite, processed aconite, and epimedium.