In warming unblock therapy, herbs with warm and hot properties are used to dissolve phlegm, eliminate wind and dampness and activate meridian flows.

Physicians usually apply this technique in conditions caused by coldness and phlegm accumulating in the bones and tendons. Clinical features include localized soreness, multiple nodules without heat and redness, fatigue, profuse clear urine, chills, a deep and slow pulse; these can appear in early stages of leprosy, tuberculosis of the bones and joints and gangrene in the fingers and toes.

Generally, the remedies are aimed at warming the meridians and organs, dispersing coldness, resolving phlegm, dispelling wind and dissolving dampness. 

For bone and joint problems that experienced mild soreness, mild swelling, no redness and pain, and accompanied with aversion to cold and profuse urine, commonly selected ingredients are aconite root, cassia bark, dried ginger, cassia twig and ephedra. Sample Prescription: Yang Harmonizing Decoction (yang he tang). The whole prescription focuses on fortifying yang and replenishing blood, which helps to expel coldness and dissolve phlegm. It is indicated for tuberculosis of the bones and joints, or septic infections that are categorized as yin syndromes.

For bone and joint problems that experienced numbness and soreness, serious swelling, and accompanied with serious chills and mild fever, physicians usually select herbs like Manchurian wildginger, cassia twig, fresh ginger, notopterygium root, pubescent angelica root, and mulberry mistletoe. Sample Prescription: Pubescent Angelica and Mistletoe Decoction (du huo ji sheng tang).