Volume 2 Issue 3 - June 2007

by Alon Marcus

In Chinese Medicine the word "Bi” has many meanings and may indicate the presence of Pathogenic Factors blocking the limbs, channels, collaterals/network-vessels and/or Organs. The phrase "Bi or Painful Obstructive Syndromes (which has also been translated as: "Obstructive syndromes, "Impediment patterns,” or "Rheumatic patterns”) describes painful disorders including muscular and bony disorders. Painful Obstruction (Bi) syndrome describes biomedical dis­orders such as: rheumatic diseases, painful local and sys­temic inflammatory conditions (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus etc.), painful soft tissue disorders, painful metabolic disor­ders, painful neural disorders, and some traumatic injuries. In general, inflammatory disorders fit most closely the syn­dromes characterized in TCM as Wind-Damp-Cold (or Heat), while degenerative conditions (osteoarthritis/arthro­sis/DJD) more closely fit syndromes of Liver/Kidney-defi­ciency and Blood-Phlegm-stasis causing degenerative weakness, stiffness, and pain.