There are many different Chinese herb patches, also called plasters, for pain, but most can be broken down into two basic groups: those with cooling herbs and those with warming herbs. Part of how an acupuncturist or Chinese herbalist diagnoses conditions is in terms of cold or heat. The herbs are intended not only to relieve pain but also to promote blood circulation and speed up the healing process.
Chinese Medical Theory
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, a diagnosis can be formed by breaking down the person's condition according to eight characteristics. It can be considered either yin or yang, internal or external, heat or cold and excess or deficiency. When diagnosing a pain condition, with regard to the patches, the most important part of the diagnosis is whether it is hot or cold, as the herbs within the patches are generally either cooling or warming.
Pain Patches For Heat Conditions
These conditions are generally considered to be excess and the plasters are used most often for acute injuries. Patches for heat conditions will contain cooling ingredients such as menthol. A commonly used one is Wu Yang Brand Pain Relieving Medicated Plaster. It contains menthol; tu bie chong, or Eupolyphaga seu opistholpatia; long gu, or Os draconis; hong hua, or Flos carthami tinctorii; da huang, or Radix et rhizoma rhei; pu gong ying, or Herba taraxaci mongolici cum radice; methyl salicylate; mo yao, or Resina myrrhae; er cha, or Pasta acaciae seu uncariae; xue jie, or Sanguis draconis; xu duan, or Radix dipsaci; and gu sui bu, or Radix drynariae.
Pain Patches for Cold Conditions
These patches can be found in varying levels of strength. One of the strongest is gou pi plaster. In English, this translates to dog skin plaster, however, there is no dog skin present. These patches are good for both acute and chronic pain conditions. The ingredients are chuan su or Aconiti radix; qiang huo or Notopterygii rhizoma et radix; du huo, or Angelicae pubescentis radix, qing feng teng, or Sinomenii acuti rhizoma; wei ling xian, or Clematidis radix; gui zhi, or Cinnamomi ramulus; mu gua, or Chaenomelis fructus; song jie, or Pini nodus; xu duan, or Dipsaci radix; rou gui, or Cinnamomi cortex; bing pian, or Borneolum; and zhang nao, or Camphora. The plaster will need to be heated before using.
Pain Patches for Neutral Conditions
If you are do not need or want the warming or cooling properties, you can use yunnan baiyao plasters. These are fairly neutral in temperature. The ingredients of these patches are zhang nao, or Camphora; menthol; bing pian, or Borneolum; shan yao or Radix dioscoreae; lao guan cao, or Herba geranii; lanolin; san qi, or Radix notoginseng; resin; rubber; Vaseline; and zinc oxide.
Use
If you are buying your own pain patches rather than being prescribed them by an acupuncturist or herbalist, you will choose according to whether your pain feels better with heat or cold. Patches should be left on for around eight hours and then taken off for a few hours to give your body a break. If you are using a stronger patch, such as the gou pi plaster, it's best to use it during the day and leave it off for the night.
Cautions
Although it is not common, it is possible for someone to have an allergic reaction to the herbs in a plaster. For this reason, it's best to cut a small piece of the plaster and test it on a small area of skin before using the whole patch. The herbs in the plasters can be quite strong smelling, especially in the case of the gou pi plaster, which can also stain clothing.
Note that the ingredients of the plasters can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and that Chinese companies are known for not listing all their ingredients. Therefore, it is best to get a prescription from a qualified herbalist.
References
- "Chinese Herbal Patent Medicines: The Clinical Desk Reference"; Jake Paul Fratkin, OMD, LAC; 2001
- Wu Yang Cooling Plaster
- Yunnan Baiyao Plaster
- Chinese Herb Names
- Treatise on Herbal Medicine for Pain
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