Jufang Qisheng San from the Official Formulary for Foot and Knee Pain

In the Shaoxing supplementary formulas of the Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang (Taiping Peaceful Benevolent Dispensatory Formulary) there is a formula called Qisheng San (Seven-Wonder Powder). It consists of: Xuduan (Dipsaci Radix), Duhuo (Angelicae Pubescentis Radix), Fangfeng (Saposhnikoviae Radix), Duzhong (Eucommiae Cortex), Bixie (Dioscoreae Hypoglaucae Rhizoma), Niuxi (Cyathulae Radix, soaked in wine for one night), and Gancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma), equal parts of each. Preparation: dry the herbs and grind to a fine powder. Take 2 qian (6 g) each time, mixed with warm wine, twice daily.

This formula expels wind-damp, stops pain, and dispels impediment (bi). It treats wind-damp flowing into the meridians with limpness and weakness of the four limbs and joints; or foot and knee pain with inability to walk. It can serve as a symptomatic formula for lower-limb impediment pain caused by various diseases.

Xuduan in the formula is also called bone-setting herb. Chinese medicine holds that it supplements the liver and kidney, strengthens sinew and bone, moves the blood vessels, joins broken injuries, and stops bleeding and calms the fetus; it is mainly used for low back pain and weak feet due to liver-kidney deficiency, and for wind-damp impediment pain. Duzhong also supplements the liver and kidney, strengthens sinew and bone, and calms the fetus; it is mainly used for sore low back and knees due to liver-kidney deficiency, weak sinews and bones, and kidney-vacuity impotence and frequent urination. Duzhong is often paired with Xuduan to treat sore low back and knees and weak sinews and bones from liver-kidney depletion.

Duhuo is a wind-damp-dispelling herb that also releases the exterior, reduces fever, and stops pain; it is mainly used for wind-cold-damp impediment, sore low back and knees, exterior patterns with dampness, as well as shaoyin headache and damp itchy skin. Fangfeng is an exterior-releasing herb that dispels wind, releases the exterior, stops pain, relieves spasm, and overcomes dampness; it treats wind-cold exterior patterns, wind-heat exterior patterns, exterior patterns complicated by dampness, wind-cold-damp impediment, and wind-damp rashes with itching. Fangfeng paired with Duhuo is an herb pair that both releases the exterior and dispels dampness while stopping pain.

Bixie is a common damp-draining pain-relieving herb; Chinese medicine holds that it drains damp turbidity and expels wind-damp, and can be used for cloudy strangury (gaolin), white turbidity, leukorrhea, wind-cold impediment pain, and low back pain. Niuxi is a blood-activating, stasis-resolving herb; Chinese medicine holds that it resolves stasis and unblocks the channels, supplements the liver and kidney, strengthens sinew and bone, conducts blood downward, and promotes diuresis and relieves strangury.

All the above herbs treat low back pain and impediment pain. Gancao harmonizes the properties of the other herbs, mitigating their adverse effects; it also itself has some pain-relieving action.

Overall, this formula focuses on releasing the exterior, draining dampness, dispelling impediment, and stopping pain. Ordinary sciatica and low-back-and-leg pain may be tried with this formula; leg pain and cancer fever caused by neuroblastoma in children may also be tried. But tumor patients should not take it with wine; plain boiled water is the only suitable vehicle.