Corydalis Tuber

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

• Invigorates Blood, moves Qi, and relieves pain - Yan Hu Suo is one of the signature pain herbs of Chinese medicine because it treats both Qi stagnation and Blood stasis, especially when fixed pain and distension coexist.
• Relieves chest, flank, epigastric, and abdominal pain - it is widely used for digestive, menstrual, and constrained Liver-type pain patterns rather than for simple deficiency aches.
• Addresses traumatic and gynecologic pain - classical use extends to dysmenorrhea, postpartum abdominal pain, traumatic injury, and painful obstruction when movement of stagnation is required.

Secondary Actions

• Vinegar-processing is a major traditional refinement for Yan Hu Suo because it is thought to direct the herb more strongly toward the Blood level and pain-relieving function.
• The herb is not merely warming; its importance lies in the unusual combination of moving both Qi and Blood in one medicine.

Classic Formulas

• Jin Ling Zi San - classic pairing with Chuan Lian Zi for hypochondriac, epigastric, and lower-abdominal pain from constrained Liver Qi with heat or stasis.
• Yan Hu Suo Zhi Tong Wan - patent-style pain formula built around corydalis for generalized stagnation pain patterns.
• Shao Fu Zhu Yu Tang - gynecologic stasis formula where Yan Hu Suo assists movement and pain relief in the lower abdomen.
• Shi Xiao San modifications - used in menstrual and traumatic pain presentations where Blood stasis is acute and painful.

Classical References

• Materia medica tradition consistently treats Yan Hu Suo as a premier analgesic herb that moves both Qi and Blood, making it unusually versatile across chest, abdominal, and gynecologic pain.
• Older clinicians often emphasized vinegar-processed Yan Hu Suo for stronger pain relief, a pattern that modern processing research still examines today.
• Its warm, acrid, bitter profile explains why it is directed at obstructive pain rather than at pain from simple empty deficiency.