Cold Extremities

How Chinese medicine differentiates persistently cold hands and feet into the four patterns you'll actually meet in practice, and the points for each. Distinct from this site's own Cold Sensation in Lower Body and Raynaud's Syndrome pages. Acupuncture only — no herbs.

This page is educational, for practitioners and students — it is not a diagnostic tool and does not replace a proper in-person assessment. Cold extremities with color change, numbness, or wounds that won't heal needs prompt medical evaluation to rule out a circulatory or nerve problem before assuming a simple pattern.

General Acupuncture Points

Acupuncture points traditionally used for cold extremities — 11 key points, used across the patterns below rather than tied to just one.

Point	Key action
REN-4	Nourishes Blood and Yin. Strengthens the Kidneys. Benefits Original Qi. Strengthens the Kidney's receiving of Qi.
BL-23	Tonifies the Kidneys and nourishes the Kidney-Essence. Consolidates Kidney-Qi. Strengthens the lower back.
DU-4	Tonifies Kidney-Yang and warms the Gate of Life (Ming Men). Expels Cold. Strengthens the lower back.
LR-3	Subdues Liver-Yang. Promotes the smooth flow of Liver-Qi. Invigorates Blood and regulates menstruation.
PC-6	Opens the chest and moves Qi and Blood. Calms the Mind. Moves Liver-Qi. Harmonizes the Stomach.
ST-44	Clears Heat. Regulates the Intestines and resolves Damp-Heat. Calms the Mind.
L.I.-4	Removes obstructions from the channel. Stops pain. Calms the Mind.
REN-12	Tonifies Stomach and Spleen. Resolves Dampness and Phlegm. Regulates Stomach-Qi.
ST-36	Benefits Stomach and Spleen. Tonifies Qi and Blood. Expels Cold.
SP-9	Regulates the Spleen. Resolves Dampness. Opens the Water passages. Benefits the Lower Burner.
ST-40	Resolves Phlegm and Dampness. Opens the chest and subdues rebellious Qi.

The Four Patterns

↑ reinforcing ↓ reducing ⊥ even method.

1. Kidney Yang Deficiency View full pattern →

Clinical manifestations: Cold hands and feet, especially the feet, aching cold in the lower back and knees, frequent urination, especially at night, fatigue, loose stools or early morning diarrhoea, leg or ankle swelling.

Tongue: Pale, puffy, tender body with teeth marks and a wet white coating. Pulse: Deep, slow, and weak, especially at the rear (Chi) positions.

Treatment principle: Warms the interior, tonifies Kidney-Yang, rescues devastated Yang from collapse.

REN-4 ↑ BL-23 ↑ DU-4 ↑

Note: moxa strongly indicated throughout. Direct exact-name match with this site's own Kidney-Yang-deficiency slide.

2. Liver Qi Stagnation View full pattern →

Clinical manifestations: Cold hands and feet that come and go with stress, rib-side distension or bloating, irritability or short temper, frequent sighing, normal or warm body core.

Tongue: Normal or slightly dark body, red or slightly purple sides, thin white coat. Pulse: Wiry, taut like a guitar string.

Treatment principle: Soothes the Liver, regulates Qi, courses Liver and resolves constraint.

LR-3 ↓ PC-6 ⊥

Note: no moxa. Direct exact-name match with this site's own Liver-Qi-stagnation slide — this is the classic \"the four extremities reflect Liver-Qi flow\" cold-extremities presentation.

3. Bright Yang Stomach Heat View full pattern →

Clinical manifestations: Cold hands and feet despite a high continuous fever, profuse sweating that doesn't relieve the fever, intense thirst with craving for cold water, flushed red face, irritability and restlessness.

Tongue: Red body with a yellow, dry coating, early cracks may appear. Pulse: Overflowing and surging, rapid, especially forceful at the right middle position.

Treatment principle: Clears Heat from the Qi level, clears Stomach-Heat, generates fluids.

ST-44 ↓ L.I.-4 ↓

Note: no moxa. Direct match with this site's own Stomach-Heat-(or-Phlegm-Heat) slide — the classic \"true Heat, false Cold\" pattern where trapped internal Heat blocks Yang from reaching the extremities.

4. Phlegm-Dampness in the Middle-Burner View full pattern →

Clinical manifestations: Cold hands and feet that feel heavy, not just cool, bloating and fullness in the upper abdomen worse after eating, nausea or queasiness with a sticky, bland taste, heaviness in the head, drowsiness and mental fuzziness, loose sticky stools.

Tongue: Pale, swollen with teeth marks and a thick, white, greasy coating that looks wet. Pulse: Slippery and soggy, especially noticeable at the right middle position.

Treatment principle: Dries Dampness and transforms Phlegm, regulates Qi, harmonizes the middle burner.

REN-12 ⊥ ST-36 ⊥ SP-9 ↓ ST-40 ↓

Note: no moxa. This site's decks name the closest match Cold-Dampness-invading-the-Spleen rather than Phlegm-Dampness specifically — linked as the nearest available slide; the clinical picture (heaviness, greasy coating, loose stools) overlaps closely.

Related conditions

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