Edema

"Edema" Issue / Symptom Connections

Below you will find various relationships to, and potential clinical treatment approaches for edema.

Content Related to Edema

It is critical to appreciate that in Chinese Medicine, treatment for "edema" is rarely focused on the symptoms exclusively. Alternatively, a practitioner is looking at the factors that led to the development of "edema" - i.e. the "cause(s)".

For non-practitioners, we recommend reading treating the "cause" and not the "symptoms" for more on the overall approach and the importance of the TCM diagnostic system in formulating treatment approaches.

Within TCM, "edema" is potentially related to one or more of the following diagnostic patterns: heart yang deficiency, kidney yang deficiency, lung wind invasion - wind cold, spleen invasion - cold damp, and/or spleen yang deficiency.

The above patterns are common examples. In clinical situations, however, there are any number of other possibilities. Many times there will be a layered combination of patterns in an interwoven blend with their symptoms - some being the cause of an issue and the result of another issue. While initially complex, this is illustrative of the the web of relationships that Chinese Medicine is designed to approach.

Related Acupuncture Protocols

When developing an acupuncture protocol a practitioner is very often focusing on the causal diagnoses in Chinese Medicine terms, not on the condition itself. To illustrate and guide developing an acupuncture treatment for someone experiencing edema, this issue is referenced in the following acupuncture protocol section:

• View EX Huatuojiaji at T5 (Sides of Spine at T5)
  
      .5 cun lateral to the lower border of the spinous processes of T5
  
      T5 influences the heart and pericardium systems - in the tam healing system the left side is more for heart issues and the right is more for pericardium issues.  A range of psychoemotional issues, depression, anxiety, etc. as well as cardi…
• View KD 7 (Recover Flow)
  
      2 cun above KD 3 on the anterior border of the achilles tendon.
  
      Tonifies KD Yang, especially with respect to water regulation - sweating (too much or too little, spontaneous), swellings, urinary issues. Oedema, especially chronic effecting the abdomen a/or lower legs. Five types of Lin Disorder - res…
• View LI 6 (Veering Passageway)
  
      3 cun above the crease of the wrist on the LI 5 to LI 11 line.
  
      Luo Connecting Point, influences the descending and dispersing function of the Lungs - useful for upperbody edema a/or facial puffiness. The Luo channel travels upward to the face effecting the jaw, teeth and ears, tinnitus, deafness, too…
• View LU 5 (Cubit Marsh)
  
      At the cubital crease on the radial side of the biceps brachii tendon.
  
      He Sea Point - useful for counterflow Qi/diarrhea, hot skin conditions, phlegm-heat excess. Acute/Chronic or Exterior/Interior Conditions. Upper body edema, enuresis. Local point for the elbow - tendonitis, tennis elbow. Classically no…
• View SP 7 (Leaking Valley)
  
      6 cun above the tip of the medial malleolus on line connecting SP 9 and the tip of the medial malleolus on the posterio…
  
      Local point. Continued muscle atrophy in the presence of adequate nutrition. Promotes urination - difficult urination. Resolves dampness - lower body swelling, ankle, knee.
• View SP 17 (Food Hole)
  
      6 cun lateral to the anterior midline in the 5th inter-costal space.
  
      Promotes smooth spleen qi (digestion), moves water stagnation - fullness of the chest and/or lateral costal region, abdominal distention perhaps with water swelling, belching, vomiting after eating, boborygmus.
• View ST 22 (Pass Gate)
  
      2 cun lateral to the AML level with CV 11.
  
      Abdominal pain, bloating, gurgling in the stomach/intestines (boborygmus). Diarrhea, constipation, poor appetite. Edema. Useful for bedwetting with HT 7 and UB 40 or LU 1 and HT 7 (deadman text).
• View ST 43 (Sunken Valley)
  
      In a depression distal to the junction of the 2nd and 3rd metatarsal bones.
  
      Similar actions to ST 44 but used less often - will clear heat from the channel and organ. Classically noted for clearing facial pain and/or edema / swelling.  May be used for general edema. Abdominal pain, bloating, borborygmus, frequen…
• View UB 22 (Triple Burner Shu)
  
      1.5 cun lateral to GV 5, level with L1.
  
      As Triple Heater Shu this point effects conditions related to imbalances between the upper and lower parts of the body especially those related to water: edema, bloating, ascites, borborygmus, difficult or painful urination, urinary retent…
• View UB 23 (Kidney Shu)
  
      1.5 cun lateral to GV 4, level with L2.
  
      For all Kidney system related issues from a Chinese Medicine perspective which effect the brain, bone, hair, teeth a/or hearing. Male deficiency related sexual problems: impotence, premature ejaculation, spermatorrhea, sterility, exhausti…