Formulas · Dispel Wind-Damp 祛風濕 · Seonmyeongbang (宣明方)

Poria Decoction for Painful Impediment

Bokryeong-tang

한글 복령탕 · Pinyin Fu Ling Tang

茯苓湯

Registered with the chapter suffix to distinguish it from the 茯苓湯 of the Women's chapter, which treats gestational oedema. The composition is close to 川芎茯苓湯 of the same section, with cassia and peony in place of tangkuei and the ephedra raised.

Composition 構成

Jeokbokryeong Chi Fu Ling
赤茯苓 적복령 · Poria (red)

6 g
Chief 君
Sangbaekpi Sang Bai Pi
桑白皮 상백피 · Mulberry Root Bark

6 g
Chief 君
Bangpung Fang Feng
防風 방풍 · Siler

4 g
Deputy 臣
Yukgye Rou Gui
肉桂 육계 · Cinnamon Bark

4 g
Deputy 臣
Cheongung Chuan Xiong
川芎 천궁 · Cnidium

4 g
Deputy 臣
Baekjakyak Bai Shao
白芍藥 백작약 · White Peony

4 g
Deputy 臣
Mahwang Ma Huang
麻黃 마황 · Ephedra

4 g
Assistant 佐
Daejo Da Zao
大棗 대조 · Jujube

—
Envoy 使

two fruits

Total 32 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 1 ingredient measured by count or used as a vehicle, shown as —.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Treats painful impediment with pain in the four limbs
cramping and clenching and puffy swelling
Taken until sweat comes

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Painful impediment with cold predominant
Cold damp in the limbs with swelling

Biomedical correlates

Cold-aggravated arthritis
Peripheral oedema with pain

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治痛痺, 四肢疼痛ㆍ拘拳ㆍ浮腫. 赤茯苓ㆍ桑白皮各一錢半, 防風ㆍ桂皮ㆍ川芎ㆍ芍藥ㆍ麻黃各一錢. 右剉, 作一貼, 入棗二枚, 水煎服. 汗出爲效. 《宣明》

Translation

Treats painful impediment with pain in the four limbs, cramping and clenching, and puffy swelling. Red poria and mulberry root bark, 1 don 5 fun each; saposhnikovia, cassia bark, chuanxiong, peony and ephedra, 1 don each. Cut up, make one packet, add two jujubes and decoct in water. The effect is when the sweat comes. — Seonmyeongbang 宣明 (Donguibogam · Pung)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Nearly the same formula as Cheongung-bokryeong-tang two entries earlier, and the near-identity is instructive: the Xuanming made one prescription serve the damp impediment and one the painful impediment by swapping tangkuei for cassia and peony and raising the ephedra. The painful type is cold-predominant, so the warming drug comes in and the sweating is made the explicit endpoint. Whether that distinction amounted to anything in practice is doubtful, but it shows the classification doing real work on the prescriptions. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.