Three Elderly Patients in an Orthopedic Clinic Successfully Treated Using the Kampo Formula of Rokumigan and Shimotsuto

Abstract

We herein report the successful treatment of three elderly patients in an orthopedic clinic who were successfully treated using the Kampo formula of rokumigan and shimotsuto. The first patient was a 69-year-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis who complained of subjective coldness in her feet. The second patient was a 79-year-old man with lumbar spinal stenosis who presented with pain and paresthesia of his lower extremities, which aggravated by walking. The third patient was an 80-year-old man who complained of ambulatory pain in the body trunk and lower limbs, which had started more than ten years previously. The symptoms of these three patients resolved after the initiation of treatment with rokumigan and shimotsuto (a Japanese herbal medicine), which was given based on dry mouth, frequent urination, flushed face, insomnia, and skin drying. Tokaku Wada (a Kampo doctor in the Edo period) stated in the classical text “Shosohoikai” that the conditions of kekkyo (blood deficiency) and jinkyo (kidney deficiency) often exist together. We concluded that rokumigan and shimotsuto may be considered for patients presenting with the Kampo concept of kekkyo and jinkyo, even if they have different diagnoses under Western medicine.