Many people fear the cold in winter. If you often experience extreme coldness and chill in both legs, and without wearing several thick cotton trousers when going out, your legs would shiver uncontrollably, feeling as if stepping on ice chips, both cold and painful—in Traditional Chinese Medicine, this is closely related to the weakness of the spleen and stomach. This is because the spleen governs the muscles and limbs, and issues with the limbs may indicate spleen deficiency. Moreover, the weaker the spleen, the colder the legs become. Below, we will explain in detail based on four different scenarios.

First, Spleen-Stomach Qi Deficiency: Spleen deficiency often begins with qi deficiency. Qi belongs to yang; qi deficiency leads to yang deficiency, and yang deficiency fails to warm the limbs, resulting in cold and chilly legs. Such individuals always need to wear more layers than others and have weaker resistance. At this stage, the focus should be on boosting spleen qi.

Second: Spleen and Stomach Deficiency-Cold. If your spleen and stomach are deficient and cold, like a large cold storage that constantly releases cold qi, your limbs are prone to symptoms of mild coldness and chills. At the same time, it is accompanied by issues such as cold pain in the abdomen, poor digestion, loss of appetite, bloating, and loose stools. At this point, the focus should be on warming the middle and dispersing cold.

Third: Insufficient Qi and Blood. Traditional Chinese medicine states that the spleen and stomach are the source of qi and blood production. If the spleen cannot provide sufficient quality and quantity of qi and blood, the limbs will not receive nourishment, leading to symptoms such as aversion to cold, as well as limb weakness, lethargy, pale or yellowish complexion, insomnia, and excessive dreaming. At this point, it is necessary to replenish qi and blood, strengthen the spleen, and nourish the heart.

Fourth: Spleen and Kidney Yang Deficiency. The spleen and kidneys mutually restrict and influence each other. If spleen yang deficiency persists for a long time, kidney yang deficiency will also occur. At this stage, symptoms not only include aversion to cold, cold hands and feet, soreness and weakness in the lower back and knees, frequent and urgent urination, nocturia, but also decreased male function and reduced libido. At this point, it is necessary to simultaneously tonify both the spleen and kidneys.

Remind everyone that traditional Chinese medicine medication requires syndrome differentiation. If needed, please consult and seek treatment from a professional doctor promptly.