(260) Q & A: Cerebral Palsy

[HB KIM]

Q:  A 17 years old female patient (wheelchair-bound; brought in by her mother and care taker) arrived at our clinic yesterday.  The girl has cerebral palsy (severe; able to barely move upper limbs but with a long lag time; not able to talk but "understands" what's going on; face/head is elongated with slight distortion without expression; atrophy and underdevelopment of all four limbs, severe scliosis) and massive amount of phlegm accumulation in her lungs (lots of phlegm and mucous causing her breathing difficulty).  She needs suction of the mucous every 5-10 minutes to keep her airway open.

we used ear seeds: Spleen, Heart, Lung, Kidney, Shen Guan
body magnets: UB13

What are some suggested Ax and Rx for patients with severe form of Cerebral Palsy (just thought that this is an interesting and unique topic)?


A:  Thank you for the interesting case, however it is hard to say the prognosis of cerebral palsy.  So, let me summarize the general TCM pattern for Cerebral Palsy first.

TCM PATTERNS for Cerebral Palsy

1. Yin deficiency with Yang rising
Tian Ma  9g
Gou Teng  12g
Shi Jue Ming  18g
Zhi Zi  9g
Huang Qin  9g
Chuan Niu Xi  12g
Du Zhong  9g
Yi Mu Cao  9g
Sang Ji Sheng  9g
Ye Jio Teng  9g
Fu Shen  9g 
Gui Ban  9g
Mu Gua  9g

2. Qi and Blood deficiency
Huang Qi  120g
Dang Gui Wei  6g
Chi Shao  4.5g
Di Long  3g
Chuan Xiong  3g
Tao Ren  3g
Hong Hua  3g

3. SP/ST deficiency
Shan Yao  15g
Ren Shen  7.5g
Fu Ling  7.5g
Fu Shen  7.5g
Bai Zhu  7.5g
Bai Shao  7.5g
Shu Di  7.5g
Dang Gui  7.5g
Huang Qi  7.5g
Chuan Xiong  7.5g
Zhi Gan Cao  7.5g
Shi Chang Pu  7.5g

4. Empirical Formula
Shi Chang Pu  6g
Chan Tui  6g
Shi Jue Ming  12g
Zhen Zhu Mu  10g
Gui Ban  10g
Jiang Chan  10g
Tian Zhu Huang  10g
Tao Ren  3g
Hong Hua  5g
Quan Xie  3g
Lian Xin  5g

Above are the general TCM patterns, however if you see the phlegm signs in the LU from the patient, I'd like to recommend Dao Tan Tang = Di Tan Tang (Er Chen Tang + Zhi Shi, Tian Nan Xing) + Ren Shen, Shi Chang Pu for your patient.

For acupuncture I often use Element treatment (tonify LV1, sedate SP3) for brain disorders or improving motor dysfunction.  You can also combine Extra Vessel treatment (SI3+UB62 or LU7+KD6) the other side of element treatment.  I use those combinations because DU, Yangqiao, and Yinqiao enters the brain.