Paralysis

Loss of use of the limbs. Paralysis that is not the result of external injury is attributable to liver-kidney depletion and insufficiency of qì and blood with evil qì (e.g., wind, cold, dampness, heat, phlegm, and stasis) entering the channels and network vessels. In severe cases, the limbs becomes wilted and disabled, preventing all movement. In milder cases, although the patient can move his extremities, he cannot perform normal activities without assistance. Paralysis may affect all limbs, individual limbs, only the legs or only the arms, or the arm and leg of one side of the body or the other. Compare wilting; hemiplegia.