{ "slug": "blood-stasis", "name": "Blood Stasis", "pinyin": "Xue Yu", "chinese": "血瘀", "organ": "Any organ; often Liver, Heart, or the uterus", "nature": "excess", "family": "blood-stasis", "summary": "Blood that has stopped moving and silted up. Pain that is sharp, stabbing, and fixed in one spot, worse at night; dark clotted periods; a dull purple complexion; lumps and masses; spider veins; and a purple or spotted tongue. Qi stagnation that went on long enough to thicken.", "picture": "A river that has stopped running and dropped its silt. Where the silt piles up, it hurts, it bruises, it lumps. Moving the water clears the silt.", "signs": { "key": [ "Sharp, stabbing, fixed pain, worse at night", "Dark periods with clots, cramps that ease when clots pass", "A dull, dark, or purple complexion, dark lips", "A purple tongue or purple spots on it", "Lumps, masses, or old swellings" ], "common": [ "Spider veins, varicose veins", "Dry scaly skin", "Chest pain or tightness", "Numbness", "Memory and mood problems in an older person", "Pain after an old injury" ], "tongue": "Purple or dusky, often with dark spots and distended veins underneath.", "pulse": "Choppy, or wiry and tight." }, "causes": [ "Long qi stagnation from stress", "An old injury or surgery", "Cold that froze the blood", "Heat that thickened the blood", "Qi deficiency too weak to push the blood", "Childbirth with retained blood" ], "tell_apart": [ { "slug": "liver-qi-stagnation", "how": "Qi stagnation pain moves around and comes and goes with mood. Stasis pain stays in one spot and stabs." }, { "slug": "blood-deficiency", "how": "Blood deficiency is pale with a pale tongue. Stasis is dark with a purple tongue. The two can coexist, which is what Tao Hong Si Wu Tang treats." } ], "formulas": [ { "slug": "xue-fu-zhu-yu-tang", "role": "primary", "when": "Stasis in the chest: fixed chest pain, insomnia, headache, a purple tongue. The most used stasis formula.", "pinyin": "Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/xue-fu-zhu-yu-tang", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/xue-fu-zhu-yu-tang" } }, { "slug": "tao-hong-si-wu-tang", "role": "with blood deficiency", "when": "Dark clotted painful periods in a pale person.", "pinyin": "Tao Hong Si Wu Tang", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/tao-hong-si-wu-tang", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/tao-hong-si-wu-tang" } } ], "herbs": [ { "pinyin": "Dan Shen", "role": "Salvia moves blood and calms the Heart; the chest herb.", "herb_slug": "root-of-ligulilobe-sage", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/root-of-ligulilobe-sage", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/root-of-ligulilobe-sage" } }, { "pinyin": "Tao Ren", "role": "Peach kernel breaks up stasis.", "herb_slug": "peach-seed", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/peach-seed", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/peach-seed" } }, { "pinyin": "Hong Hua", "role": "Safflower moves blood and opens the channels.", "herb_slug": "safflower", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/safflower", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/safflower" } }, { "pinyin": "Chuan Xiong", "role": "Ligusticum moves blood and qi, especially to the head.", "herb_slug": "chuanxiong-rhizome-szechuan-lovage-root", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/chuanxiong-rhizome-szechuan-lovage-root", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/chuanxiong-rhizome-szechuan-lovage-root" } }, { "pinyin": "San Qi", "role": "Notoginseng moves blood and stops bleeding at the same time; the injury herb.", "herb_slug": "sanchi-2", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/sanchi-2", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/sanchi-2" } }, { "pinyin": "Yan Hu Suo", "role": "Corydalis for blood-level pain.", "herb_slug": "corydalis-tuber", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/corydalis-tuber", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/corydalis-tuber" } }, { "pinyin": "Chi Shao", "role": "Red peony cools and moves the blood.", "herb_slug": "red-peony-root", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/red-peony-root", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/red-peony-root" } } ], "conditions": [ "blood-stasis", "dysmenorrhea", "angina", "chest-pain", "traumatic-injury", "headache", "menstrual-irregularities", "cardiovascular-disease" ], "habits": [ "Move every day; still blood silts.", "Warm the body if the stasis came from cold; cool it if from heat.", "Turmeric, ginger, hawthorn, a little vinegar, and dark leafy greens keep blood moving.", "Stop smoking; it thickens the blood." ], "watch": [ "Fixed pain softens and starts to move within two to four weeks.", "Clots thin out over two to three cycles.", "The purple fades from the tongue and lips over months.", "Blood movers are not for pregnancy or active bleeding." ], "sources": [ { "title": "Maciocia, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 3rd edition", "note": "Blood stasis patterns." }, { "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition", "note": "Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang, Tao Hong Si Wu Tang." } ], "meta": { "status": "published", "last_updated": "2026-10-12", "reviewed_by": null }, "_links": { "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/blood-stasis", "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/blood-stasis", "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/patterns" } }