健步虎潜丸

• Effects: Nourishes yin and drains fire, strengthens sinews and bones.
• Core pathomechanism: Liver-Kidney yin deficiency with insufficiency of essence and blood, and failure to nourish the sinews and bones. When yin is depleted, deficiency fire arises internally, leading to weakness and flaccidity of the sinews and bones, and soreness and weakness of the lower back and knees.

1. When it is used

This formula relies mainly on a large dose of yin-nourishing herbs, assisted by herbs that clear and drain ministerial fire and strengthen the sinews and bones. It is a classic formula for wilting patterns (wei syndrome).

2. Pattern and presentation

• Main symptoms:
  1. Soreness and weakness of the lower back and knees, with weakness and wilting of the sinews and bones: Liver-Kidney insufficiency with failure to nourish the sinews and bones.
  2. Difficulty walking, with wasting of the legs and feet: depletion of essence and blood, unable to nourish.
  3. Red tongue with scanty coating: a sign of yin deficiency with effulgent fire.

3. Tongue and pulse

• Tongue: Red tongue body, scanty coating.
• Pulse: Thin and rapid, or weak.

4. Granule conversion and dose

• Calculation of the total raw herb weight of the original formula (excluding mutton):

o Huang Bai (phellodendron bark) 15 g + Gui Ban (tortoise plastron) 12 g + Zhi Mu (anemarrhena rhizome) 9 g + Shu Di (prepared rehmannia root) 9 g + Bai Shao (white peony root) 9 g + Dang Gui (Chinese angelica root) 6 g + Niu Xi (achyranthes root) 9 g + Suo Yang (cynomorium) 6 g + Chen Pi (aged tangerine peel) 6 g + Gan Jiang (dried ginger) 3 g = 84 g.