Postherpetic Neuralgia: Practical Experiences Return to Traditional Chinese Medicine

In traditional medicine (TM), PHN is mostly due to incomplete heat and damp clearing in liver and spleen meridians, qi and toxic pathogens stagnation, accumulation of yin (blood stagnation in microcapillary), internal fire, and heat and obstruction of meridians. Acupuncture works based on the eradication of wind, clearing of heat, and destroying of damp by regulating qi and blood movement. In clinics, several methods of TM are used to relief PHN, such as simultaneous needling, surrounding needling, acupuncture, electro acupuncture, moxibustion, wet cupping or hijamat, and herbal medicine. In this review, we discussed all these methods and their role in reducing PHN and pain.