Formulas · Text · Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

Sinew

Geun

한글  ·  Pinyin Jin

The sinew belongs to the liver and the knee is its house — the twelve channel sinews with their courses and cramps, why heat shortens a sinew and damp lengthens it, and the bamboo roller that mended a broken leg

The sinew belongs to the liver, and the knee is its house: where a man cannot bend and stretch and stoops as he walks, the sinews are giving out. The long middle of the chapter is the Lingshu's 經筋 — the twelve channel sinews, each traced from a toe or a finger to where it ends, with the cramp or the stiffness that belongs to it and one line of treatment for all twelve: heat the needle, strike hard, take the response as the measure and the pain as the point. Then the chapter's best piece of reasoning, on why a sinew tightens or slackens. Damp heat unchecked shortens the great sinews and lengthens the small ones; shortened, they cramp; lengthened, they wilt. Cold makes a sinew snap taut and heat makes it draw up, and damp leaves it long and useless — and a sinew that the blood does not reach cramps for want of nourishment, which is why Danxi treated contracture with Four Substances Decoction. The end of the chapter is practical: a quince poultice changed as often as it cools, moxa on the ankles for a leg that will not walk, and a length of bamboo tube hung from the waist and rolled under the foot — the exercise a Daoist taught a man who had broken his leg falling from a horse.

18.1 The Sinew Belongs to the Liver 筋屬肝

18.1.1
Source원문

內經曰, 肝主筋.

Translation영역
The Neijing says: the liver governs the sinews.

Naegyeong 內經

18.1.2
Source원문

又曰, 肝主身之筋膜. 《得效》

Translation영역
It also says: the liver governs the sinews and membranes of the body.

Deukhyo 得效

18.1.3
Source원문

肝在體爲筋, 筋者肝之合也.

Translation영역
The liver in the body is the sinews; the sinews are what the liver joins with.

Naegyeong 內經

18.1.4
Source원문

又曰, 肝病驚駭筋攣. 《得效》

Translation영역
It also says: in liver disease there is fright and alarm and cramping of the sinews.
Clinical note임상 주석
The Liver chapter's 2.4 put 握, grasping, among the liver's changes; here the same claim is made from the sinew's side. A startled body clenches, and the tradition gave the liver both the fright and the clench.

Deukhyo 得效

18.2 The Ancestral Sinew 宗筋

18.2.1
Source원문

內經曰, 主束骨而利機關也. 註曰, 宗筋爲陰毛中橫骨上下之竪筋也. 上絡胸腹, 下貫髖尻, 又經於背腹上頭項, 故云宗筋也.

Translation영역
The Neijing says: it governs the binding of the bones and the freeing of the joints. The commentary says: the ancestral sinew is the upright sinew above and below the transverse bone amid the pubic hair. It networks upward over chest and abdomen and threads downward through the hip and buttocks, and also passes over back and abdomen up to the head and neck — hence it is called the ancestral sinew.
Clinical note임상 주석
宗筋 has two senses in the classics: the great muscular sheet that binds the trunk, and the penis in particular. The commentary here takes both at once — an upright sinew at the pubis that also runs the length of the body — and the Genitals chapter uses the narrower sense throughout.

Naegyeong 內經

18.3 The Twelve Channels All Have Sinews 十二經皆有筋

18.3.1
Source원문

足太陽之筋, 起於足小指, 上結於踝, 斜上結于膝. 其別者結于腨上, 膕中結于臀, 上挾脊上項. 其支者入結舌本. 其直者結于枕骨, 上頭下顔, 結于鼻. 其支者爲目上綱, 下結于頄. 其病小指支, 外腫痛, 膕攣, 脊反折, 項筋急, 肩不擧. 治在燔鍼劫刺, 以知爲數, 以痛爲兪. 《靈樞》

Translation영역
The foot greater yang's sinew rises at the little toe, binds above at the ankle and binds slantwise up at the knee. Its branch binds above the calf, and within the popliteal fossa binds at the buttock, then runs up flanking the spine to the nape. Its offshoot enters and binds at the root of the tongue. Its straight course binds at the occipital bone, rises over the head, comes down the face and binds at the nose. Its offshoot forms the upper net of the eye and binds below at the cheekbone. Its diseases are: the little toe propped, swelling and pain outside, cramp in the popliteal fossa, the spine arched back, the neck sinews tight, the shoulder not to be raised. The treatment is in the heated needle struck hard, taking the response as the count and the painful place as the point.
Clinical note임상 주석
以知爲數, 以痛爲兪 — take the response as the count and the sore spot as the point. The one line of treatment given for all twelve, and it is the origin of the ashi point: needle where it hurts, and stop when it answers.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.3.2
Source원문

足少陽之筋, 起于小指次指, 上結外踝, 結于膝. 其支者上走髀, 前者結于伏兎, 後者結于尻. 其直者上走腋, 繫于膺乳. 其直者上出腋, 貫缺盆, 上額角, 交巓上, 下走頷, 結于頄. 其病小指次指轉筋, 膝不可屈伸, 膕筋急, 上引缺盆. 鍼法同上. 《靈樞》

Translation영역
The foot lesser yang's sinew rises at the fourth toe, binds above at the outer ankle and binds at the knee. Its offshoot runs up to the thigh: the front part binds at the rectus, the back part at the buttock. Its straight course runs up to the armpit and ties to the chest and breast. Another straight course issues above the armpit, threads the supraclavicular fossa, rises to the corner of the forehead, crosses at the vertex, runs down to the jaw and binds at the cheekbone. Its diseases are: cramp of the fourth toe, the knee unable to bend or stretch, the popliteal sinews tight and drawing up to the supraclavicular fossa. The needling is as above.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.3.3
Source원문

足陽明之筋, 起于中三指, 結于跗上, 加輔骨, 上結于膝, 上髀樞, 上脇屬脊. 其直者循伏兎, 上結于髀, 聚于陰器, 上腹而布, 至缺盆, 上頸挾口, 合于頄, 下結于鼻, 上合于太陽. 太陽爲目上綱, 陽明爲目下綱. 其病足中指轉筋, 髀腫, 㿉疝, 腹筋急, 引缺盆, 口㖞, 目不合. 鍼法同上. 《靈樞》

Translation영역
The foot yang brightness's sinew rises at the middle three toes, binds at the instep, passes over the fibula, binds above at the knee, rises to the hip joint, and goes up the flank to attach at the spine. Its straight course follows the rectus, binds above at the thigh, gathers at the genitals, spreads up over the abdomen to the supraclavicular fossa, rises up the neck flanking the mouth, joins at the cheekbone, binds below at the nose, and joins above with the greater yang. The greater yang forms the upper net of the eye and the yang brightness the lower. Its diseases are: cramp of the middle toe, swelling of the thigh, bulging mounting, tight abdominal sinews drawing at the supraclavicular fossa, the mouth awry and the eye not closing. The needling is as above.
Clinical note임상 주석
口㖞, 目不合 — the mouth pulled awry and the eye that will not close. Facial palsy attributed to this sinew, and the upper and lower nets of the eye are how the classics account for the lids opening and shutting.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.3.4
Source원문

足太陰之筋, 起于大指之端, 上結于內踝. 其直者絡于膝, 循陰股, 結于髀, 聚于陰器, 上腹結于臍, 循腹裏, 散於胸中, 着於脊. 其病足大指轉筋, 膝引髀而痛, 陰器紐痛, 引臍脊痛. 鍼法同上. 《靈樞》

Translation영역
The foot greater yin's sinew rises at the tip of the great toe and binds above at the inner ankle. Its straight course networks at the knee, follows the inner thigh, binds at the thigh bone, gathers at the genitals, goes up the abdomen and binds at the navel, follows within the abdomen, scatters in the chest and attaches at the spine. Its diseases are: cramp of the great toe, the knee drawing to the thigh with pain, twisting pain in the genitals drawing to navel and spine. The needling is as above.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.3.5
Source원문

足少陰之筋, 起于小指之下, 斜走內踝之下, 結于踵, 上于內輔之下, 循陰股結于陰器, 循脊內上至項, 結于枕骨, 與足太陽之筋合. 其病足下轉筋, 所過而結者皆痛, 在外者不能俯, 在內者不能仰. 鍼法同上. 《靈樞》

Translation영역
The foot lesser yin's sinew rises below the little toe, runs slantwise under the inner ankle, binds at the heel, goes up below the inner condyle, follows the inner thigh to bind at the genitals, runs up within the spine to the nape and binds at the occipital bone, joining with the foot greater yang's sinew. Its diseases are: cramp under the foot, and pain wherever it passes and binds; where it is outside one cannot stoop, where inside one cannot look up. The needling is as above.
Clinical note임상 주석
在外者不能俯, 在內者不能仰 — trouble in front and one cannot bend forward, trouble behind and one cannot lean back. The kidney sinew runs up inside the spine and down the back of the leg, and the rule distinguishes which side of it has tightened.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.3.6
Source원문

足厥陰之筋, 起于大指之上, 結于內踝, 上循脛, 上結內輔之下, 上循陰股, 結于陰器, 絡諸筋. 其病足大指內踝所過而結者皆痛, 陰器不用. 傷於內則不起, 傷於寒則陰縮入, 傷于熱則縱挺不收. 鍼法同上. 《靈樞》

Translation영역
The foot reverting yin's sinew rises above the great toe, binds at the inner ankle, runs up the shin and binds below the inner condyle, runs up the inner thigh, binds at the genitals and networks with all the sinews. Its diseases are: pain wherever it passes and binds from the great toe to the inner ankle, and the genitals not functioning. Damaged within, there is no erection; damaged by cold, the genitals shrink inward; damaged by heat, they stay erect and do not draw in. The needling is as above.
Clinical note임상 주석
Three states of one organ read from one sinew — impotence, retraction and priapism — each assigned to a cause. The liver channel reaching the genitals is the anatomical claim behind the whole Genitals chapter.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.3.7
Source원문

手太陽之筋, 起于小指之上, 結于腕, 上循臂, 結于肘, 入結于腋下. 其支者上繞肩胛, 循頸結于耳後完骨. 其支者入耳中, 直者出耳上, 屬目外眥. 其病手小指ㆍ肘內ㆍ腋下痛, 繞肩胛引頸而痛, 耳鳴目瞑. 鍼法同上. 《靈樞》

Translation영역
The hand greater yang's sinew rises above the little finger, binds at the wrist, runs up the forearm, binds at the elbow and enters to bind below the armpit. Its offshoot runs up round the shoulder blade, follows the neck and binds at the mastoid behind the ear. Another offshoot enters within the ear; the straight one issues above the ear and attaches at the outer canthus. Its diseases are: pain in the little finger, the inner elbow and below the armpit, pain round the shoulder blade drawing to the neck, ringing in the ears and dimness of the eyes. The needling is as above.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.3.8
Source원문

手少陽之筋, 起于小指次指之端, 結于腕, 上循臂, 結于肘, 上肩走頸. 其支者入繫舌本. 其支者上曲牙, 循耳前, 屬目外眥. 其病當所過者卽支轉筋, 舌卷. 鍼法同上. 《靈樞》

Translation영역
The hand lesser yang's sinew rises at the tip of the ring finger, binds at the wrist, runs up the forearm, binds at the elbow, rises to the shoulder and runs to the neck. One offshoot enters and ties to the root of the tongue; another rises at the angle of the jaw, follows in front of the ear and attaches at the outer canthus. Its diseases are propping and cramp wherever it passes, and a curled tongue. The needling is as above.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.3.9
Source원문

手陽明之筋, 起于大指次指之端, 結于腕, 循臂, 結于肘, 上臑, 結于髃. 其支者繞肩胛挾脊. 其直者從肩髃上頸. 其支者上頰, 結于頄. 其病當所過者支痛轉筋, 肩不擧, 頸不可顧. 鍼法同上. 《靈樞》

Translation영역
The hand yang brightness's sinew rises at the tip of the index finger, binds at the wrist, follows the forearm, binds at the elbow, rises up the upper arm and binds at the shoulder point. Its offshoot runs round the shoulder blade flanking the spine; its straight course goes from the shoulder point up the neck; another offshoot rises to the cheek and binds at the cheekbone. Its diseases are propping pain and cramp wherever it passes, the shoulder not to be raised, and the neck unable to turn and look. The needling is as above.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.3.10
Source원문

手太陰之筋, 起于大指之上, 結于魚際, 上循臂, 結肘中, 上臑, 入腋下, 出缺盆, 結髃, 上下結胸裏, 散貫賁, 下抵季脇. 其病當所過者支轉筋, 甚成息賁. 鍼法同上. 《靈樞》

Translation영역
The hand greater yin's sinew rises above the thumb, binds at the fish's belly, runs up the forearm, binds within the elbow, rises up the upper arm, enters below the armpit, issues at the supraclavicular fossa, binds at the shoulder point, binds above and below within the chest, scatters and threads the diaphragm, and reaches down to the free ribs. Its diseases are propping and cramp wherever it passes, and at worst it becomes rushing breath. The needling is as above.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.3.11
Source원문

手心主之筋, 起于中指, 結于肘, 上臂陰, 結腋下, 挾脇. 其支者入腋, 散胸中, 結于臂. 其病當所過者支轉筋, 胸痛息賁. 鍼法同上. 《靈樞》

Translation영역
The hand heart governor's sinew rises at the middle finger, binds at the elbow, rises along the inner arm, binds below the armpit and flanks the ribs. Its offshoot enters the armpit, scatters within the chest and binds at the arm. Its diseases are propping and cramp wherever it passes, chest pain and rushing breath. The needling is as above.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.3.12
Source원문

手少陰之筋, 起于小指之內, 結于銳骨, 上結肘, 入腋挾乳裏, 結于胸中, 下繫于臍. 其病內急, 心承伏梁, 下爲肘網. 其病當所過者支轉筋, 筋痛. 其成伏梁唾血膿者, 死不治. 《靈樞》

Translation영역
The hand lesser yin's sinew rises inside the little finger, binds at the pisiform bone, binds above at the elbow, enters the armpit flanking the inside of the breast, binds within the chest and ties downward to the navel. Its diseases are urgency within, the heart bearing a lurking beam, and below it a net at the elbow. Its diseases are propping and cramp wherever it passes, and pain of the sinew. Where it has become a lurking beam with blood and pus spat up, death — not to be treated.
Clinical note임상 주석
伏梁, the lurking beam — a mass lying under the heart, which the Accumulations chapter treats. That the heart sinew ties down to the navel is what lets the Lingshu attribute an epigastric mass to it, and coughing blood and pus with it is the point past treating.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.4 The Knee Is the House of the Sinew 膝爲筋府

18.4.1
Source원문

內經曰, 膝者筋之府, 屈伸不能, 行則僂俯, 筋將憊矣.

Translation영역
The Neijing says: the knee is the house of the sinews. Where one cannot bend and stretch and stoops in walking, the sinews are about to give out.
Clinical note임상 주석
The Bone chapter's 22.2.1 gave the matching line — swaying in the walk means the bones are giving out. Bone and sinew are read from the same act of walking, one from the sway and one from the stoop.

Naegyeong 內經

18.4.2
Source원문

諸筋者, 皆屬於節. 《靈樞》

Translation영역
All the sinews attach at the joints.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.5 Sinews Tight and Sinews Slack 筋急筋緩

18.5.1
Source원문

內經曰, 濕熱不攘, 大筋緛短, 小筋弛長. 緛短爲拘, 弛長爲痿. 註曰, 大筋受熱則縮而短, 小筋得濕則引而長. 縮短故拘攣而不伸, 引長故痿弱而無力.

Translation영역
The Neijing says: where damp heat is not driven off, the great sinews shrink short and the small sinews slacken long. Shrunk short makes contracture; slackened long makes wilting. The commentary says: the great sinews taking in heat shrink and shorten, and the small sinews taking in damp draw out and lengthen. Shortened, they cramp and will not stretch; lengthened, they wilt and are without strength.
Clinical note임상 주석
One cause, two opposite results, distinguished by the size of the sinew. It is the Suwen's most-quoted line on the sinews, and 拘 and 痿 — contracture and flaccid weakness — remain the two things a limb can do wrong.

Naegyeong 內經

18.5.2
Source원문

靈樞曰, 筋之病, 寒則反折筋急, 熱則筋弛縱不收. 陰痿不用. 寒急用燔鍼, 熱弛無用燔鍼.

Translation영역
The Lingshu says: in disease of the sinew, cold arches the body back and tightens the sinews; heat slackens them so they do not draw in, and the genitals wilt and do not function. For cold tightness use the heated needle; for heat slackness the heated needle is of no use.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.5.3
Source원문

脈不榮則筋急. 仲景云, 血虛則筋急. 此皆血脈不榮於筋而成變. 故丹溪治攣用四物湯方見血門加減, 本事方治筋急用養血地黃元, 盖本乎此也. 《綱目》

Translation영역
Where the vessels do not nourish, the sinews tighten. Zhongjing says: where the blood is vacuous the sinews tighten. Both are the blood and vessels failing to nourish the sinew and so producing the change. Therefore Danxi treated contracture with Four Substances Decoction formula in the Blood chapter modified, and the Bonsa Bang treated tight sinews with Nourish the Blood Rehmannia Pill — both resting on this.
Clinical note임상 주석
The chapter's practical conclusion: a cramping muscle may simply be one the blood is not reaching, and is fed rather than relaxed. It is why Samul-tang appears in a chapter about spasm.

Gangmok 綱目

18.5.4
Source원문

寒則筋急, 熱則筋縮. 急因於堅强, 縮因於短促. 若受濕則弛, 弛因於寬而長. 盖受寒使人筋急, 受熱使人筋攣. 若但熱而不曾受寒, 亦使人筋緩. 若受濕則又引長無力也. 《得效》

Translation영역
Cold tightens the sinew and heat draws it up. Tightness comes of hardness and stiffness, drawing up of shortening. Where damp is taken in there is slackness, slackness coming of looseness and length. Cold makes a person's sinews tight and heat makes them cramp; but where there is heat only and no cold has been taken in, that too makes the sinews slack. And damp taken in draws them long and strengthless.

Deukhyo 得效

18.5.5
Source원문

酒煮木瓜粥裹筋急痛處, 佳. 《綱目》

Translation영역
Wine-Boiled Quince Poultice wrapped round the place where the sinew is tight and painful is good.

Gangmok 綱目

18.5.6
Source원문

金絲膏主風濕筋寒諸病, 可外貼之方見丹心.

Translation영역
Golden Thread Paste governs the various diseases of wind, damp and cold in the sinew, and may be applied externally.

Donguibogam · Geun

18.6 Sinew Wilting 筋痿

18.6.1
Source원문

內經曰, 肝氣熱則膽泄口苦, 筋膜乾. 筋膜乾則筋急而攣, 發爲筋痿. 思想無窮, 所願不得, 意淫於外, 入房太甚, 宗筋弛縱, 發爲筋痿, 及爲白淫. 故下經曰, 筋痿者生於肝使內也.

Translation영역
The Neijing says: where the liver qi is hot the gallbladder discharges and the mouth is bitter, and the sinews and membranes dry. Dried, the sinews tighten and cramp, and it breaks out as sinew wilting. Where thought and longing are endless and what is wished for is not got, the mind lewd toward the outside and going in to women too much, the ancestral sinew slackens and it breaks out as sinew wilting and as white lewdness. So the Lower Classic says: sinew wilting is engendered in the liver from being used within.
Clinical note임상 주석
The Urine chapter's 1.27.3 carried the same passage for white lewdness; here it is read for the sinew. One aetiology serving two chapters, and in both the operative phrase is 所願不得 — longing for what cannot be had.

Naegyeong 內經

18.6.2
Source원문

肝氣熱爲筋痿, 則筋急而攣. 《本草》

Translation영역
Where liver qi heat makes sinew wilting, the sinews tighten and cramp.

Boncho 本草

18.7 Sinew Convulsion 筋瘈

18.7.1
Source원문

內經曰, 筋脈相引而急, 病名曰瘈, 亦曰瘈瘲, 俗謂之搐是也. 《綱目》

Translation영역
The Neijing says: where the sinews and vessels draw on each other and tighten, the disease is named 瘈, also called 瘈瘲 — what people commonly call twitching.
Clinical note임상 주석
瘈瘲 — the alternating tightening and slackening of a convulsion, the classical term for what a seizure looks like. The Bogam glosses it with the everyday word so a reader knows what is meant.

Gangmok 綱目

18.7.2
Source원문

筋攣皆屬肝. 《綱目》

Translation영역
Cramping of the sinews all belongs to the liver.

Gangmok 綱目

18.7.3
Source원문

熱氣燥爍於筋則攣瘈而痛. 《河間》

Translation영역
Where hot qi parches and scorches the sinew, it cramps and convulses and pains.

Hagan 河間

18.7.4
Source원문

諸熱瘈瘲, 皆屬于火. 熱勝風搏, 幷于經絡, 風火相乘, 是以瘈瘲生矣. 治宜祛風滌熱之劑, 折其火熱則立愈. 《河間》

Translation영역
All heat convulsions belong to fire. Heat prevailing and wind striking gather in the channels and networks; wind and fire ride on each other, and so convulsion arises. Treat with preparations that dispel wind and wash away heat: break the fire heat and it heals at once.
Clinical note임상 주석
諸熱瘈瘲, 皆屬于火 — one of the Suwen's nineteen pathomechanisms, and Liu Wansu's favourite. Febrile convulsions in children are exactly this presentation, and cooling is exactly what answers them.

Hagan 河間

18.8 Sinews Twitching and Flesh Jumping 筋惕肉瞤

18.8.1
Source원문

詳見寒門.

Translation영역
Treated in detail in the Cold Damage chapter.
Clinical note임상 주석
筋惕肉瞤 — the fine twitching of muscle seen after a sweat has been forced too far. It is Zhongjing's term and the Fluids chapter's 5.14 gave the setting: a patient sweated to the point of yang collapse, with the limbs cramping.

Donguibogam · Geun

18.9 Cramp 轉筋

18.9.1
Source원문

轉筋屬血熱. 《丹心》

Translation영역
Cramp belongs to heat in the blood.

Dansim 丹心

18.9.2
Source원문

有筋轉于足大指, 轉上至大腿近腰結了. 此因奉養厚, 飮酒感風寒而作. 四物湯方見血門加酒芩ㆍ紅花ㆍ蒼朮ㆍ南星. 《丹心》

Translation영역
There is a cramp that begins at the great toe and runs up to the thigh near the lumbus and there binds. This comes of rich living, drinking wine and contracting wind cold. Four Substances Decoction formula in the Blood chapter with wine-fried scutellaria, safflower, atractylodes lancea and arisaema added.
Clinical note임상 주석
A cramp travelling up the whole leg and locking at the hip. Danxi's case, and his treatment is the chapter's principle applied: feed the blood, and add what moves and dries.

Dansim 丹心

18.9.3
Source원문

霍亂後轉筋, 詳見霍亂.

Translation영역
Cramp after sudden turmoil is treated in detail in the Sudden Turmoil chapter.
Clinical note임상 주석
The cramps of cholera, which the Sudden Turmoil chapter treats. Severe watery diarrhoea strips the body of salt and the calves seize — 轉筋 is one of the classical names for cholera itself.

Donguibogam · Geun

18.10 The Patterns of Sinew Injury 筋傷證

18.10.1
Source원문

內經曰, 久行傷筋.

Translation영역
The Neijing says: walking long injures the sinew.

Naegyeong 內經

18.10.2
Source원문

有傷於筋, 縱其若不容. 《內經》

Translation영역
Where the sinew is injured, it slackens as though it could not hold itself.

Naegyeong 內經

18.10.3
Source원문

形苦志樂, 病生於筋, 治之以熨引. 《內經》

Translation영역
Where the body suffers and the will is glad, disease arises in the sinew; treat it with ironing and stretching.
Clinical note임상 주석
形苦志樂 — hard labour with a contented mind. The Suwen matches five combinations of body and mind to five kinds of illness and a treatment for each, and for this one it prescribes heat and stretching rather than medicine. 18.13's bamboo roller is the same prescription four hundred years later.

Naegyeong 內經

18.11 The Outer Signs of Sinew Disease 筋病外證

18.11.1
Source원문

靈樞曰, 目色靑黃赤白黑者, 病在筋.

Translation영역
The Lingshu says: where the colour of the eye is green, yellow, red, white or black, the disease is in the sinew.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.12 The Signs of the Sinew Expiring 筋絶證

18.12.1
Source원문

靈樞曰, 筋絶九日死. 何以知之. 手足爪甲靑, 呼罵不休.

Translation영역
The Lingshu says: the sinew expiring, death in nine days — how is it known? The nails of hands and feet are green and there is shouting and cursing without cease.
Clinical note임상 주석
The Speech chapter's 4.8.2 gave the same pair for the gallbladder expiring, with the Cheongeum's caution that mania is not this. Green nails and shouting are the liver's two signs, and the sinew is the liver's tissue.

Yeongchu 靈樞

18.13 The Method of Stretching the Sinews 舒筋法

18.13.1
Source원문

治破傷後筋攣縮不能伸, 他病筋縮亦可用. 大竹管長尺餘, 兩頭鑽一竅, 繫以繩, 掛于腰間, 一坐貼, 擧足搓滾之, 勿計工程, 久當有效. 《得效》

Translation영역
Treats sinews cramped and shortened after a wound so that they cannot stretch; it may also be used for shortened sinews from other diseases. Take a large bamboo tube rather over a cheok long, bore a hole at each end, tie it with a cord and hang it from the waist; sit down to it, raise the foot and roll it back and forth — do not count the labour, and in time it will surely answer.
Clinical note임상 주석
A bamboo roller worked under the foot, hung from a cord so it does not slide away. It is physiotherapy: passive mobilization of a contracture, repeated daily without counting. 勿計工程 — do not count the labour — is the whole instruction.

Deukhyo 得效

18.13.2
Source원문

有人墜馬折脛, 脚筋攣縮不能行步. 遇一道人敎以此法, 數日便愈如常. 《醫說》

Translation영역
A man fell from a horse and broke his shin, and the sinews of the leg cramped and shortened so that he could not walk. He met a Daoist who taught him this method, and in a few days he was well as before.

Uiseol 醫說

18.14 Simple Medicinals 單方

18.14.1
Source원문

凡十五種.

Translation영역
Fifteen kinds in all.
Clinical note임상 주석
Fifteen simples for the sinew — hot spring water, coix, pubescent angelica, epimedium, pine knot, fleeceflower, acanthopanax bark, jujube kernel, eucommia, quince, rubus, schizonepeta, deer marrow, antelope horn and the sinews of animals. The quince entry gives the chapter's reason for its own favourite: 入肝故益筋, it enters the liver and so benefits the sinew, and treats every disease of the sinew. The hot spring carries the chapter's one caution — good for cold and cramp, not for those with much damp.

Donguibogam · Geun

18.15 Acupuncture and Moxibustion 鍼灸法

18.15.1
Source원문

筋攣骨痛, 補魂門. 《綱目》

Translation영역
For cramping sinews and aching bones, supplement Honmun (魂門, BL47).

Gangmok 綱目

18.15.2
Source원문

膝曲筋急不能舒, 取曲泉. 《綱目》

Translation영역
Where the knee is bent and the sinews too tight to straighten, take Gokcheon (曲泉, LR8).

Gangmok 綱目

18.15.3
Source원문

筋急不能行, 內踝筋急, 灸內踝四十壯. 外踝筋急, 灸外踝三十壯, 立愈. 《千金》

Translation영역
Where tight sinews prevent walking: if the sinews are tight at the inner ankle, moxa the inner ankle forty cones; if at the outer ankle, moxa the outer ankle thirty cones — it heals at once.

Cheongeum 千金

18.15.4
Source원문

膝筋攣急不開, 兩膝內外曲交尖各灸二七壯, 卽委陽穴. 《綱目》

Translation영역
Where the knee sinews cramp tight and will not open, moxa fourteen cones at the point of the crease inside and outside both knees — that is the point Wiyang (委陽, BL39).

Gangmok 綱目

18.15.5
Source원문

筋轉而痛, 瀉承山, 或灸二七壯. 《綱目》

Translation영역
For cramp with pain, drain Seungsan (承山, BL57), or moxa fourteen cones.
Clinical note임상 주석
Seungsan, in the belly of the calf where the two heads of the muscle part. It is the point for calf cramp in every tradition that has one, and the only treatment in this chapter a person can apply to themselves in the moment.

Gangmok 綱目

18.15.6
Source원문

肝熱生筋痿, 補行間, 瀉太衝. 《綱目》

Translation영역
Where liver heat engenders sinew wilting, supplement Haenggan (行間, LR2) and drain Taechung (太衝, LR3).

Gangmok 綱目

18.15.7
Source원문

筋攣陰縮痛, 灸中封五十壯. 《資生》

Translation영역
For cramping sinews with the genitals retracted and painful, moxa Jungbong (中封, LR4) fifty cones.

Jasaenggyeong 資生經

18.15.8
Source원문

筋會陽陵泉, 筋病治此. 《難經》

Translation영역
The meeting point of sinew is Yangneungcheon (陽陵泉, GB34); disease of the sinew is treated here.
Clinical note임상 주석
The Bone chapter closed on 骨會大杼 and this one closes on 筋會陽陵泉 — two of the Nanjing's eight meeting points, and the two chapters are built to end the same way.

Nangyeong 難經

About this translation 凡例

Base text: Donguibogam (東醫寶鑑, 1613 first edition), Outer Form, Volume 3, Sinew chapter. The Chinese text is collated against the public-domain Wikisource transcription and a printed edition; original character forms (脉, 人參) are retained. Terminology follows Wiseman & Feng, A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine. Translation and clinical notes are original to this site. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.