Where there's pain, there's no flow.
Where there's flow, there's no pain.

To practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine, pain is a sign of hindered flow and is caused by one or more of the following:

• OBSTRUCTION of Qi or Blood  - blocked flow of energy or fluids, due to injury, swelling, or inflammation (oversupply)
• CONSTRAINT of Qi or Blood  - restrained flow of energy or fluids, due to physical or mental constraint
• 
DEFICIENCY of Qi or Blood - poor flow of energy or fluids, caused by an undersupply or mis-direction of qi or blood)

When these flows are impeded or misdirected, we are ill, or will become ill. When this flow is normal, we are healthy. TCM theorizes that acupuncture and other techniques can stimulate the flow of energy and fluids.

How to break stagnations, and activate  flows to relieve pain.

There are many ways that herbs can be used for relieving pain, but three categories contain the majority of herbs most often used to treat pain, 

• Herbs that Move the Blood,
• Herbs that Move the Qi
• Herbs that Relieve Food Stagnation.

Herbs that Move Blood.

Pain from Blood Stagnation is usually intense, acute, and fixed in one place.

Common herbs in this category include YU JIN (turmeric), YAN HU SUO (corydalis), HONG HUA (safflower), RU XIANG (frankincense), MO YAO (myrrh), TAO REN (peach seed kernel). Note that most herbs in this category are prohibited during pregnancy.

Some popular formulas used to relieve the pain of blood stagnation are:

SHEN TONG ZHU YU TANG - 身痛逐瘀湯 - CNIDIUM AND NOTOPTERYGIUM COMBINATION Drive Out Blood Stasis from a Painful Body Decoction  

YAN HUO SUO ZHI TONG

ZHU YU TANG - Drive out Blood Stasis Decoction

Herbs that Move Qi

Pain from Qi Stagnation is less intense and can come and go or wander from place to place.

Common herbs in this category include  CHEN PI (aged citrus peel), ZHI SHI (bitter orange peel), XIANG FU (nut grass rhizome), TAN XIANG (sandalwood)

Herbs that Relieve Food Stagnation. 

Much abdominal pain is cause by food stagnation in the digestive system.

Common herbs that relieve food stagnation include LAI FU ZI (radish seed), JI NEI JIN (chicken gizzard), GU YA (rice sprouts), MAI YA (barley sprouts), SHAN ZHA (hawthorne fruit). 

Note that these herbs are usually combined into formulas in order to enhance their effects and reduce any chance of side effects.

Herbs for Traumatic Pain

There is an entire subset of Chinese medicine devoted entirely to treating pain from injury.  Hit Medicine, as it is called, employs both internal medicines and topical applications. Find out more about Hit Medicine here.

Information on this site is provided for educational purposes and is not meant to substitute for the advice of your own physician or another medical professional. We make no claim as to efficacy or safety of herbs for pain or herbal medicine appearing on this site. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.