On the stone wall next to the Great Buddha Temple on the outskirts of Langzhong, a famous historical and cultural city in Sichuan, the two characters "Huxi" carved on the stone wall are still clearly visible. It is rumored that this is related to Sun Simiao's use of knotweed to treat tiger legs.
According to legend, there used to be steep mountains, dense forests and lush grasses, and many precious medicinal materials grew there. One day, when Sun Simiao came here to collect medicine, he suddenly heard endless groans. He hurriedly crossed the mountain stream, but saw a big tiger with hanging eyes and white forehead lying feebly on the opposite rock, looking at him eagerly. Sun Simiao stepped forward and knelt down. The tiger slowly lifted his foot and placed it on his knee. When Sun Simiao saw that the leg was red and swollen, he hurriedly took out the medicine from the medicine sac, smashed it, took the mountain spring and adjusted it, put it on the tiger's leg, and fed the medicine to the tiger. A few days later, the tiger's leg disease healed suddenly. From then on, the tiger was inseparable from Sun Simiao and became his mount. Sun Simiao rode it uphill and wading to collect medicine, as if walking on the ground.
Sun Simiao's treatment for the tiger spread all of a sudden. In order to commemorate him, later generations built the Medicine King Hall in the Big Buddha Temple. Because the medicine cured the tiger's leg disease, everyone called it "Polygonum cuspidatum", which means that it cured the tiger's leg disease.
Whether Sun Simiao really cured tiger's leg disease with knotweed is now impossible to examine. However, in Chinese medicine, Polygonum cuspidatum is indeed a good medicine for treating joint diseases blindly.
Polygonum cuspidatum, also known as big insect stalk, bitter scepter, blood cane, and Nine dragon root, is a trifoliate plant Polygonum cuspidatum, and its rhizome is used as medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that Polygonum cuspidatum has a bitter, flat taste, and has the functions of dispelling wind, dampness, breaking silt, and easing menstruation. In vitro experiments show that: Polygonum cuspidatum water decoction has inhibitory effects on Staphylococcus aureus, A or B streptococcus, Escherichia coli, herpes simplex virus, influenza virus, etc., and it is an ideal anti-inflammatory and antiviral medicine.
Polygonum cuspidatum is clinically used to treat bone and joint diseases and diseases caused by bacteria and viruses. Wash and chop Polygonum cuspidatum, soak in wine and drink, which can treat arthritis. Combining Polygonum cuspidatum with Yin-Yang lotus, Ten Great Merits, and Loquat Leaf can treat chronic bronchitis. Adding Polygonum cuspidatum and Hedyotis diffusa, decoction in water, can cure appendicitis. Decoction of Polygonum cuspidatum orally in water can be used for the treatment of acute jaundice infectious hepatitis, with an effective rate of over 90%.
External use of Polygonum cuspidatum can also treat burns and promote faster wound healing. Washing the vagina with Polygonum cuspidatum decoction can also cure candidal vaginitis.
