↑ reinforcing ↓ reducing ⊥ even method.
Clinical manifestations: Fixed, stabbing pain in the upper back, pain worsens with pressure and at night, irritability or emotional tension.
Tongue: Dark purple body with stasis spots, distended sublingual veins. Pulse: Wiry and choppy, like a taut guitar string scraping bamboo.
Treatment principle: Invigorate Blood and dispel stasis, unblock the channels, move Qi and alleviate pain.
Note: no moxa. Direct match with this site's own Liver-Blood-stasis slide via the well-established stasis-spot-tongue marker.
Clinical manifestations: Dull, cold aching pain in the upper back, improves with warmth and rest, feeling of cold in back and limbs, frequent nighttime urination, fatigue and low energy.
Tongue: Pale, puffy, tender body with teeth marks, wet white coating. Pulse: Deep, slow, and weak.
Treatment principle: Tonify Kidney-Yang, warm and transform Qi, warm the Ming Men fire.
Note: moxa applicable throughout. Direct exact-name match with this site's own Kidney-Yang-deficiency slide.
3. Painful Obstruction Due to Damp-Heat in Channels
Clinical manifestations: Burning pain in the upper back, heavy aching sensation, redness and swelling over the painful area, worse with warmth or humid weather, thirst and dark scanty urine.
Tongue: Red body with a yellow greasy coating. Pulse: Slippery and rapid.
Treatment principle: Clear Heat and dry Dampness, clear Damp-Heat from the channels.
Note: no moxa. This is a joint-localized Damp-Heat Bi-syndrome with no organ marker, the same joint-localized gap noted for Sinew Contracture in this same batch — no pattern link is given here; points still link fine individually.
Clinical manifestations: Dull, burning ache worsening at night, dry mouth and throat, night sweats, heat sensation in palms/soles/chest, dizziness, tinnitus, lower back soreness.
Tongue: Red, thin body with little or no coating, dry surface. Pulse: Fine and rapid.
Treatment principle: Nourish Kidney-Yin, supplement Liver and Spleen Yin, benefit Essence and fill marrow.
Note: no moxa given the Yin deficiency. Direct exact-name match with this site's own Kidney-Yin-deficiency slide.
5. Spleen Deficiency With Dampness
Clinical manifestations: Heavy, sore, distending upper back pain, improves with warmth and gentle pressure, loose stools or diarrhea, poor appetite and fatigue, abdominal bloating, drowsiness after meals.
Tongue: Pale, swollen body with teeth marks and a white greasy coating. Pulse: Soggy and slow, soft and lacking force.
Treatment principle: Tonify Qi, strengthen the Spleen, drain Dampness.
Note: moxa applicable on SP-6. This site has no combined Spleen-deficiency-with-Dampness slide, a gap confirmed absent many times over this batch (Lipoma, Chronic Venous Insufficiency) — no pattern link is given here; points still link fine individually.