Favorite recipe for a hot compress to use in your clinic

Not all pain patients like heat on their areas of pain, but many do. For those who don't you can use liniments and patches. For those who crave heat, you can use liniments with a heat lamp, OR use this hot compress in your clinic, OR send people home with bags of these herbs to cook up and use as a soak or compress in between treatments.It's simple but effective. I learned this one at the Shanghai #1 Teaching Hospital when I was a student there in the tuina ward. They kept a crock pot of this decoction hot and at the ready with clean towels for application on many patients.

Recipe for a Hot Compress

Hong Hua   
Chi Shao
Tao Ren
Zi Ran Tong
Dang Gui Wei
Chuan Xiong
Su Mu

15 grams of each in one gallon of water. Place the Hong Hua in a cotton bag or tie into a piece of cheese cloth to make your straining process at the end easier. Simmer for 45-60 minutes. Strain out the dregs and keep this on warm in a slow cooker in your clinic. You can reuse this liquid for 4-5 days if kept warm.

Use flannel cloth or old kitchen towels that you don’t care if they are dyed red by the Hong Hua. Use the compress as hot as you can stand to wring out and as hot as the patient can stand. Place on the skin and pat once or twice….place on the skin and pat once or twice. Repeat this until the skin is red and warm without burning the patient.

The patient could also do this at home for ongoing care of muscle, tendon, soft tissue injuries.