Leg Weakness
This is a weird problem, that surprisingly affects a lot of people. It's weird because it doesn't really belong to any disease, and tests and lab exams likely won't find anything wrong. Some doctors believe this may be due to herniated discs impinging on the lumbar nerves, but individuals with this problem usually don't complain of waist problems. Furthermore, nerve impingement usually causes electric shooting pain down the legs as in sciatica or cause somekind of numbness.
Individuals with this leg weakness condition usually don't have any of these things. Perhaps doctors would simply blame this problem on some sort of "neuropathy", as there is obviously some kind of innervation problem and response to the electrical signals generated by the nerves that supply the leg muscles. But this doesn't really lead to any treatment because there are no drugs that treat "neuropathy" technically, or at least not this problem directly. Simply, patients only complain of weakness of the legs especially when they walk or stand.
So how does Chinese Medicine deal with this? In Chinese Medicine, as stated before, we don't necessarily care what disease or condition the patient has, more than the overall picture or "pattern" that we observe in the patient. To treat this problem of course, it's important to actually forget about the leg problem altogether.
In 2012, a robust woman in her early sixties visited my clinic. She was fatty, but had the habit of walking 2 hours everyday, hoping that that she would cut down her fat. Her fat didn't really reduce, but she didn't get any more heavier. Her fat was the stiff and muscular type , not the flabby kind. Recently she told me she feels tired and her legs felt weak, such that she couldn't sustain the 2 hour long walk the way she used to.
I performed TCM diagnostics and determined there was a lot of "excess" in her body, essentially garbage and waste material accumulated inside her that now is obstructing the normal circulation of blood and fluids, and this manifests as weakness of the legs, as there is compromised circulation of leg muscles and tissues. Ironically, she maintains a healthy diet, and asked how is it even possible she has this problem. I told her, certain individuals are just predisposed to this kind of problem, regardless of their lifestyle.
Perhaps genetics as modern science purports has some truth. However this doesn't mean it's incurable. I told her with Chinese Medicine, the "excess" can be eliminated quite fast because your body is one that can withstand stronger medicine.
I prescribed one week's herb for her. A few days later she called to tell me that she has increased bowel movements, and asked if this was normal. I told her yes, and apparently she didn't listen to me when I told her the possible effects that may occur. I subsequently inquired about her leg weakness, and was told that it improved significantly actually. When she came back after she finished the herbs, she told me to modify the prescription so the bowel movements weren't so strong.
I told her to wait a bit because the "excess" has not been completely eliminated. So I prescribed a few more days of it and when she came back afterwards, told me she felt somehow a bit tired after the herbs. I told her that the excess has been just eliminated so your body is readjusting; the fatigue is only temporary. I made modifications to the next prescription and afterwards the fatigue recovered and her legs regained their vigor. As well, the bowel movements resumed to normalcy. The leg weakness did not come back even after 1 yr.
Some people would presume maybe this person just has constipation. The answer is NO. This patient did not suffer from constipation. The increased bowel movements are simply a response of the body to the medicine in trying to get rid of the "excess" in the body that's obstructing proper circulation. And this "excess" is not constipated stools. This is a good example of what Chinese Medicine is---treating the patient's problem without really trying to treat it.