Cancer pain takes many forms. It may be caused when a tumor presses on bone, nerves or organs. In addition, certain painful conditions are due to cancer treatment including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. Sometimes patients may experience headaches and muscle pain that has nothing to do with the illness or treatment. According to TCM understanding, cancer pain can be classified in two major categories.

1. Obstructive pain: this is due to one or several evils attacking an organ or meridian leading to sluggish flows of qi (vital energy) or blood in the region. The pain is usually sharp, relatively localized, and with certain characterisitics. See the "nature of paint". TCM therapies will aim at removing the stagnation so as to resume smooth circulation.
2. Deficient pain: due to the progressive exhaustion of cancerous tissues, the other healthy tissues inside the body generally lack nutrient supply for normal functioning. This always causes dull pain that occurs gradually but persistently and relatively less localized. TCM therapies will aim at nourishing the organs and meridians as well as replenishing blood and qi.

TCM local remedies are mainly targeted on obstructive type of pain. The selected drugs are mostly chosen from insects, worms, living animal parts or toxic substances; TCM holds that these categories can activate blood and qi, removing stasis and coldness, warming meridians and relieving pain. In addition, certain anti-cancer herbs, or herbs with warming and stimulant properties are added to the prescriptions to have more broaden effects. Common ingredients are:

Centipede	Scorpion	Resinous secretion
Common Monkshood mother root	Kusnnezoff Monkshood root	Corydalis Rhizome

chan su	Dried toad venom	Venenum Bufonis
di long	Earthworms	Lumbricus
wu gong	Centipede	Scolopendra
quan jie	Scorpion	Scorpio
tu bie chong	Ground beetles	Eupolyhpaga seu Steleophaga
xiong huang	Realgar	Realgar
bing pian	Borneol	Borneolum Syntheticum
she xiang	Musk	Moschus
ru xiang	Frankincense	Olibanum
mo yao	Myrrh	Resina Commiphorae Myrrhae
xue jie	Resinous secretion	Resina Draconis
chuan wu	Common Monkshood mother root	Radix Aconiti
cao wu	Kusnnezoff Monkshood root	Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii
ma qian zhi	Nux vomica	Semen Strychni
bai qu cai	Greater Celandine Herb	Herba Chelidonii
yan hu suo	Corydalis Rhizome	Rhizoma Corydalis
xi xin	Manchurian wildginger	Herba Asari

In addition to application on painful areas, these drugs are also applied to specific acupoints on the trunk. It is said that this can promote meridian flow to obtain a general regulating effect, which readjusts neural sensitivity to lower the threshold of pain. Some of the selected acupoints are:

Origin of pain	Selected acupoints
Nasopharyngeal cancer	Da-zhui, feng-chi, fei-shu, shen-que
Esophagus cancer	Ge-shu, shen-que,
Lung or skin cancer	Fei-shu, ru-gen, shen-que
Liver cancer	Qi-men, gan-shu
Gall bladder cancer	Dan-shu
Stomach cancer	Wei-shu, zhong-wen, shen-que
Intestinal cancer	Da-chang-shu, shen-que
Pancreatic cancer	Pi-shu, shen-que,
Cervical cancer	Shen-que, shen-shu
Bladder cancer	Shen-shu, pang-guang-shu, shen-que

Shen-que (umbicius) is an important acupoint in TCM local application. It is said that pain alleviation can be achieved in a short time, last for relatively longer period and have few side effects.