Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) views osteoarthritis as a painful condition of the joints and its surrounding tissues caused by a lack of vital energy and healthy blood whose circulation has been obstructed by pathogenic factors. In TCM, this condition is formally referred to as an “obstructive syndrome.”
As an obstructive syndrome condition worsens over time, there may be noticeable degenerative changes of the affected joints and surrounding tissues that include pain, stiffness, swelling, and weakness that result from the obstruction of circulation of qi and blood.
Obstructive syndromes coincide with imbalances of the internal organs associated with the affected tissues. According to TCM when the internal organs are weakened, it can result in a weakened condition that extends through the channels to their associated tissues and structures. This weakened condition compromises the body’s ability to resist and expel the obstructing pathogenic factors keeping the body in a diseased state.
