What does spleen refer to in traditional Chinese medicine

We all know that there are some big differences between Chinese medicine and Western medicine. Chinese medicine emphasizes looking, smelling, asking and palpating, while Western medicine is like our current public hospitals, which generally include examinations, medication, injections, surgery, etc. Of course, this is just a very general statement. Just like in terms of anatomy, Western medicine emphasizes the consistency between the inside and the outside, and what is seen inside is what it is. Chinese medicine is different, so let us understand what the spleen in Chinese medicine refers to? Let’s take a look together!

The spleen is located in the middle burner, below the diaphragm. Its main physiological functions are to transport and transform, raise the clear and control the blood. The spleen and stomach are exterior and interior to each other. Both are major digestive organs. The maintenance of a person's vital activities and the generation of qi, blood, and body fluids after birth all depend on the essence of water and grain transformed by the spleen and stomach, so the spleen and stomach are called "the source of qi and blood generation" and "the foundation of acquired constitution". "Su Wen Ling Lan Secret Classic" says: "The spleen and stomach are the organs of granary, from which the five flavors come". The spleen opens up at the mouth, and its beauty is on the lips. The spleen combines muscles in the body and controls the limbs. The spleen is responsible for transportation and transformation. Yun means transportation and transport; Hua means digestion and absorption. The spleen's physiological functions of transportation and transformation include transporting and transforming the essence of water and grain and transporting and transforming water fluids. Transporting and transforming the essence of water and grain refers to the function of digesting and absorbing food and transferring its essence. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that after food is digested and absorbed by the spleen and stomach, it depends on the spleen's transportation and transformation function to transform grain into fine substances, and it depends on the spleen's transfer and dispersion function to distribute the essence of grain throughout the body, so that various tissues and organs such as the internal organs, limbs and bones can get adequate nutrition to maintain normal physiological functions. When the spleen's function of transporting and transforming the essence of food and water is vigorous, food and water can be transformed into essence, qi, blood, and body fluids to nourish the body and carry out normal physiological activities. On the contrary, if the spleen fails to function properly, symptoms such as loss of appetite, abdominal distension, loose stools, indigestion, fatigue, weight loss and other symptoms may appear, indicating insufficient production of Qi and blood.

The spleen's function of transporting and transforming water refers to the spleen's absorption, transfer and distribution of water. The normal function of the spleen can prevent water from stagnating in the body, thus preventing the formation of pathological products such as dampness, phlegm, and fluid. On the contrary, it will lead to stagnation of water in the body, producing pathogenic factors such as dampness, phlegm, and fluid, leading to various diseases such as edema, diarrhea, etc. The spleen is responsible for ascending the clear. "Sheng" means rising. "Qing" refers to nutrients such as the essence of water and grain. The spleen's function of ascending the clear summarizes the characteristics of the spleen's physiological functions, which are embodied in the following two aspects: first, it transports the essence of food and water to the heart and lungs, transforming them into qi and blood through the action of the heart and lungs to nourish the whole body. The second is to lift and lift in order to maintain the normal position of the internal organs of the body. Therefore, if the spleen fails to raise the clear, the essence of food and water will fail to rise and be dispersed, and symptoms such as fatigue, dizziness, abdominal distension and diarrhea may occur. Therefore, "Suwen·Yin Yang Ying Xiang Da Lun" says: "When the clear air is in the lower part, diarrhea will occur"; when the spleen qi sinks, it can cause visceral prolapse, such as gastric prolapse, uterine prolapse, or develop into chronic diarrhea and rectal prolapse. The spleen governs blood, which means that the spleen can govern and control blood so that it circulates normally in the blood vessels and does not overflow outside the blood vessels. If the spleen is weak and loses its function of regulating blood, the blood will not flow through the meridians but will overflow outside the vessels. Certain bleeding syndromes may occur, such as bloody stools, subcutaneous bleeding, uterine bleeding, etc., accompanied by some symptoms of spleen deficiency. The spleen opens up at the mouth, and its beauty is on the lips. Whether food taste and appetite are normal or not is closely related to the spleen's function of transportation and transformation. If the spleen is healthy, taste and appetite will be normal. On the contrary, if the spleen fails to function properly, there may be a loss of appetite or abnormal taste, such as a bland, sweet, or greasy taste in the mouth. The color of the lips is related to whether the body's Qi and blood are full, and the spleen and stomach are the source of Qi and blood production, so whether the color of the lips is rosy is actually an external manifestation of the spleen's functional state. The spleen combines muscles in the body and controls the limbs. The human body relies on the nutrients of water and grain transformed by the spleen to make muscles plump and developed and limbs powerful. Therefore, whether the spleen's transportation and transformation functions are sound or not is often directly related to the strength or thinness of the muscles and the normal functional activities of the limbs. If the spleen is weak and unhealthy, the muscles will lose nutrition and gradually become thin or limp, and the limbs will become paralyzed and useless.

In this way, we have an understanding of what spleen refers to in traditional Chinese medicine. In fact, those of us who have seen a Chinese medicine doctor will know that sometimes we will hear a Chinese medicine doctor say that the spleen and stomach are not in harmony. In fact, this spleen is not the same as in Western medicine. We can accumulate more knowledge in our daily lives, because the more we know, the better we can bring a lot of help to our bodies.