bubble_chart Source

is the rhizome of the perennial herb Sichuan Lovage Rhizome (Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort.) from the Apiaceae family. It is mainly produced in Sichuan and is cultivated artificially. It is harvested in May, cleaned of soil and sand, dried in the sun, and then baked dry before removing the fibrous roots. It is used sliced or stir-fried with wine.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Acrid, warm. Act on liver, gallbladder and heart channels.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Invigorating blood and removing stagnation, dispelling wind to relieve pain.

bubble_chart Indications

1. Used for pain syndromes caused by blood stasis and qi stagnation. This product is pungent and dispersing, warm and unblocking, capable of both invigorating blood and moving qi, known as the "blood and qi medicine in the middle," and can "regulate menstruation below and relieve stagnation in the middle." It is used to treat women's menstrual irregularities, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, postpartum stasis, and abdominal pain. It is an essential medicine for gynecological blood-invigorating and menstruation-regulating, often combined with Chinese Angelica, Peach Kernel, Cyperus, etc. For blood stasis amenorrhea and dysmenorrhea, it is combined with Red Peony Root, Peach Kernel, etc., such as Blood House Stasis-Expelling Decoction; for cold congealing blood stasis, it is combined with Cassia Central Bark, Chinese Angelica, etc., such as Furen Liangfang Meridian-Warming Decoction; for postpartum lochia retention and stasis abdominal pain, it is combined with Chinese Angelica, Peach Kernel, etc., such as Generation and Transformation Decoction. For liver depression qi stagnation and hypochondriac region pain, it is often combined with Bupleurum, Peony Root, Cyperus, etc., such as Bupleurum soothing liver decoction; for heart vessel stasis and chest impediment, it is often combined with Salvia, Cinnamon Twig, sandalwood, etc. In modern times, Sichuan Lovage Rhizome and its compound formulas have shown good efficacy in treating coronary heart disease and heart colicky pain. Additionally, it is used in traumatology for injuries and in surgery for sores, ulcers, and abscesses. For injuries, static blood swelling, and pain, it is often combined with Sanqi, frankincense, myrrh, etc., to invigorate blood, reduce swelling, and relieve pain; for abscesses with pus formation and difficulty in ulceration due to deficiency, it is combined with Astragalus Root, Chinese Angelica, Gleditisia Spine, to expel toxins and drain pus, such as Waike Zhengzong Pus-Draining Powder.
2. Used for headache and wind-dampness arthralgia. This product is pungent, warm, and ascending, capable of "ascending to the head and eyes," dispelling wind to relieve pain. It is used to treat headache, whether caused by wind-cold, wind-heat, wind-dampness, blood deficiency, or blood stasis, by appropriate combination of medicinals. The ancients said, "Headache cannot be treated without Sichuan Lovage Rhizome." For wind-dampness Bi disease, limb pain, and numbness, this product can "unblock collateral vessels," dispelling wind, dredging collaterals, and relieving pain. It is often combined with Pubescent Angelica, Cinnamon Twig, Saposhnikovia Root, etc., to dispel wind, dampness, and unblock collaterals.
3. In modern clinical practice, Sichuan Lovage Rhizome injection is used intravenously to treat acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease; Sichuan Lovage Rhizome alkaloid is used intravenously to treat brain trauma syndrome; Sichuan Lovage Rhizome combined with long pepper is made into cranial pain tablets to treat trigeminal neuralgia, vascular headache, sciatica, peripheral neuritis, etc.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Benjing: "Mainly treats apoplexy entering the brain, headache, agonizing arthralgia, muscular spasms, incised wounds, and amenorrhea and infertility in women."
2. Bencao Gangmu: "Sichuan Lovage Rhizome is a blood and middle qi medicine... Pungent to disperse, thus suitable for qi depression. The 'Zuo Zhuan' mentions Mai Ju and Ju Qiong to repel dampness and treat abdominal diseases of river fish. I often add these two ingredients to treat damp diarrhea, and the response is immediate. For bloody dysentery that has cleared but pain persists, it is due to yin deficiency and qi depression. Adding Chuanxiong as an adjuvant in the medicine, qi circulates and blood regulates, and the illness stops immediately."
3. Bencao Huiyan: "Sichuan Lovage Rhizome, ascends to the head and eyes, descends to regulate Jingshui, and opens depression in the middle. It is a blood and middle qi medicine, often used with Chinese Angelica, not only effective in treating blood but also miraculous in treating qi... Pungent in taste and yang in nature, its qi is good at moving without the sticky and stagnant nature of yin. Although it enters the blood aspect, it can also dispel all wind and regulate all qi."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

Decoct and take 3-10g.

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

For those with yin deficiency and effulgent fire, profuse sweating, and hypermenorrhea, caution should be exercised.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

This product contains volatile oils, alkaloids (such as Sichuan Lovage Rhizome alkaloids, etc.), phenolic substances (such as Ferula acid, etc.), as well as lactones, vitamin A, folic acid, sterols, sucrose, fatty oils, etc.

1. Sichuan Lovage Rhizome alkaloids can inhibit the contraction of vascular smooth muscle, expand the coronary stirred pulse, increase coronary blood flow, improve myocardial hypoxia and mesenteric membrane microcirculation, and can reduce myocardial oxygen consumption, increase cerebral and limb blood flow, and reduce peripheral vascular resistance;
2. it can reduce platelet surface activity, inhibit platelet aggregation, and prevent the formation of blood clots;
3. it can enhance the contraction of isolated uterus in pregnant rabbits, but large doses can turn into inhibition;
4. it can also inhibit the contraction of the small intestine;
5. the decoction with water has a sedative effect on the central nervous system of animals;
6. it also has a hypotensive effect;
7. it has an anti-vitamin E deficiency effect;
8. Ferula acid has a certain regulatory effect on the immune system, increasing gamma globulin and T lymphocytes;
9. it has a significant protective effect on injuries caused by Co60 gamma rays and nitrogen mustard in animals;
10. it has an inhibitory effect on Shigella sonnei, Escherichia coli, Proteus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, cold-damage disease, and paracold-damage disease bacteria.