strong and had no other symptoms. His voice and his spirit were strong. His tongue was
Reddish-Purple with a yellow coating and his pulse was Wiry and Full.
Diagnosis First of all, the condition is clearly one of Excess as evidenced by his
strong voice and spirit, strong body, Full pulse and tongue with coating.
As for the chest pain, this is due to stasis of Blood in the chest. Stasis of
Blood is evident from the character of the pain, the purple colour of the
tongue-body and the Wiry pulse. The feeling of heaviness in the legs is
due to Dampness infusing downwards.
Treatment principle The treatment principle used was to move Blood in the chest. This
patient was treated with acupuncture only with good results.
Acupuncture The main points used were aimed at moving Blood and eliminating
stasis. These were:
P-6 Neiguan, P-4 Ximen, ST-40 Fenglong, Ren-17 Shanzhong and
BL-14 Jueyinshu with even method. ST-40 was used not for its capacity
of resolving Phlegm but because, in combination with P-6, it relaxes the
chest and regulates the ascending and descending of Qi in the chest.Turbid Phlegm Stagnating in the Chest
Clinical Manifestations
Pronounced feeling of oppression of the chest, pain in the chest extending to shoulder or upper
back, breathlessness, feeling of heaviness, dizziness, expectoration of white sputum.
Tongue: Swollen body, sticky-white tongue coating.
Pulse: Slippery.
Phlegm obstructs the circulation of Qi in the chest and causes the typical feeling of oppression in
the chest. Some patients may describe it as "heaviness" or "tightness". Phlegm causes some
slight dizziness as it obstructs the rising of clear Yang to the chest.
In this condition, the feeling of oppression in the chest predominates over any pain.
This pattern very frequently occurs in combination with the first one, i.e. stasis of Blood in the
chest. There is an interaction between Phlegm and stasis of Blood as they aggravate each other.
The relative predominance of Phlegm or stasis of Blood can be easily evaluated according to
pulse, tongue and symptoms (Table 13.2Table 13.2).
Treatment Principle