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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Lingshu 24 · Reversal Illnesses
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For reversal headache with a seemingly swollen face and vexation, address Foot Yangming and Taiyin. For reversal headache with painful head vessels, sadness and frequent weeping, inspect for abnormally abundant moving vessels on the head, needle all to remove blood, then regulate Foot Jueyin.
For reversal headache with a persistently heavy, painful head, drain the five rows on the head, five sites in each row; first address Hand Shaoyin, then Foot Shaoyin. For reversal headache with frequent forgetting and no palpable finding on pressure, address moving vessels on both sides of the head and face, then Foot Taiyin. For reversal headache where the nape hurts first and the waist and spine respond, first address Tianzhu, then Foot Taiyang. For severe reversal headache with surging, hot vessels before and behind the ears, drain their blood, then address Foot Shaoyang.
True headache means extreme headache with pain throughout the brain and cold hands and feet as far as the joints; the text declares death beyond treatment. In headache after a blow or fall, with bad blood retained within or injured flesh and pain not yet ended, the transporting sites are not to be used. Needle locally where appropriate; do not address it at a distance. A headache that must not be needled is one where great obstruction causes distress and attacks daily: it can be slightly relieved but not ended. For cold pain in one half of the head, first address Hand Shaoyang and Yangming, then Foot Shaoyang and Yangming.
Reversal heart pain pulling against the back, with frequent twitching, as if the heart were struck from behind, and a stooped posture, is Kidney heart pain. First address Jinggu and Kunlun; if withdrawal does not end it, address Rangu.
Reversal heart pain with abdominal distension, chest fullness and especially severe heart pain is Stomach heart pain: address Dadu and Taibai. Pain like an awl or needle piercing the heart, with extreme heart pain, is Spleen heart pain: address Rangu and Taixi. A deathlike, dusky complexion and inability to draw a deep breath all day mark Liver heart pain: address Xingjian and Taichong. Heart pain present while lying or sitting idle, becoming worse with movement but without a change of complexion, is Lung heart pain: address Yuji and Taiyuan.
True heart pain brings cold hands and feet as far as the joints and extreme heart pain. If it begins at dawn, death is said to come at dusk; if at dusk, at dawn. Heart pain with an abundant internal accumulation must not be needled or addressed at the transporting sites. Worm masses and the disorder named jiaoqu in the intestines must not be addressed with a small needle.
Sudden attacks of heart and intestinal pain, with a swelling that travels up and down, intervals free of pain, abdominal heat, frequent thirst and drooling, are called jiaoqu. The account prescribes gathering and holding it firmly under the hand so it cannot move, using a great needle, retaining it until the worm stops moving and then withdrawing. The closing fragment refers to distressed or sudden abdominal pain and “those of middle or upper form.”
The classifications and point assignments, including the Rangu–Taixi pair under Spleen heart pain, follow this source. Jiaoqu is not assigned a modern parasite diagnosis. The final damaged fragments “姗腹溌痛。形中上者” do not support a secure continuous reading; no missing method or anatomical target is invented.
For deafness with no hearing, address within the ear; for ringing, address the moving vessel before the ear. Ear pain that must not be needled includes pus within the ear or dry impacted earwax preventing hearing. For deafness, address the junction of nail and flesh on the finger next to the little finger, first the hand and then the foot. For ringing, address above the nail of the middle finger, taking the right for the left and the left for the right, first the hand and then the foot.
If the thigh cannot be raised, address it with the patient on the side, in the meeting at the pivot, using the round-sharp needle; do not use the great needle. For a pouring discharge of blood below, address Ququan.
In spreading wind obstruction that cannot be ended, the feet feel as if walking on ice and at times entering hot water; pain spreads through thighs and shins, with vexation, headache, intermittent vomiting and oppression, dizziness followed by sweating and, after a long time, visual dizziness, sadness, frequent fear, short qi and unhappiness. The text predicts death within three years.
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