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1. Painful Obstruction With Liver and Kidney Deficiency
Clinical manifestations: Chronic dull bone aching, lower back and knee weakness, pain worsens in cold/damp weather, fatigue, weak heavy legs, pale complexion, numbness/tingling.
Tongue: Pale thin body with thin white coating. Pulse: Fine, weak, slow, especially weak at the rear position.
Treatment principle: Tonify Liver and Kidney, nourish Blood, expel Wind-Damp-Cold.
Note: moxa applicable throughout. This pattern's own pale-tongue/cold-worse presentation was checked directly against this site's Kidney-and-Liver-YIN-deficiency slide (which is red-tongue/dry) and declined as a different deficiency axis — the same confirmed-absent \"Painful Obstruction with Liver and Kidney Deficiency\" category established for Toe Stiffness and Ankle Pain (batch 31). No pattern link is given here; points still link fine individually.
2. Painful Obstruction Due to Damp Heat in Channels
Clinical manifestations: Joint pain with redness and heat, swollen hot joints, heavy aching limbs, fever sensation, pain relieved by cold/worsened by warmth.
Tongue: Red body with yellow greasy coating. Pulse: Slippery and rapid.
Treatment principle: Clear Heat, dry Dampness, unblock the channels.
Note: no moxa. This is the generic Damp-Heat-in-channels Bi-syndrome picture, already confirmed absent as a standalone slide on this site many times over — no pattern link is given here; points still link fine individually.
3. Painful Obstruction With Qi and Blood Deficiency
Clinical manifestations: Dull lingering joint ache, worsens after activity and improves with rest, numbness/tingling, profound fatigue, pale face/lips, cold sensitivity with spontaneous sweating.
Tongue: Pale body with thin white coating, possibly teeth marks. Pulse: Fine, weak, slow, weak at the rear positions.
Treatment principle: Tonify Qi and Blood, warm the channels, nourish the tissues.
Note: moxa applicable throughout. This site's decks have no combined Qi-and-Blood-deficiency slide (confirmed absent many times before), so no pattern link is given — points still link fine individually.
4. Phlegm in the Channels, Joints and Muscles
Clinical manifestations: Fixed stabbing pain worse at night, hard nodular joint swelling, purple/dark skin discoloration, joint stiffness limiting movement, subcutaneous nodules.
Tongue: Purple body with stasis spots, white greasy coating, distended sublingual veins. Pulse: Wiry and choppy, or wiry and slippery if Phlegm predominates.
Treatment principle: Invigorate Blood and dispel stasis, unblock the channels, transform Phlegm.
Note: moxa applicable on ST-36 only. This site's confirmed-absent generic Phlegm-in-the-channels category (Astigmatism, Hand Numbness), so no pattern link is given here; points still link fine individually.