Red Seven-Herb Chicken Soup，From *Proven Tea, Decoction, and Soup Recipes for Common Ailments*,Promotes blood circulation and dispels blood stasis; reduces swelling and relieves pain; tonifies the liver and kidneys. Suitable for cervical spondylosis caused by liver and kidney deficiency with qi stagnation and blood stasis
the whole decoction leans warm; use with caution in those with yin deficiency and internal heat or lingering excess heat; in the absence of frank deficiency, or where an excess or heat pattern prevails, indiscriminate warming tonic use is inadvisable; the blood-moving action suggests caution in early pregnancy, in heavy or prolonged menses, and in those with a bleeding tendency; the tonifying-warming action may aggravate internal heat; avoid during feverish or inflammatory episodes
Commentary
The sovereign is hen, of warm nature and sweet flavor, entering the Spleen, Stomach; it tonifies qi and blood and warms the middle, anchoring the central strategy of the formula. The ministerial layer, safflower (nature warm, flavor pungent, channeled into the Heart, Liver, activates blood, unblocks menstruation and resolves stasis), and panax notoginseng (with warm nature and sweet, mildly bitter flavor, having Liver, Stomach tropism, disperses stasis, stops bleeding, and reduces swelling and pain), lends support that reinforces the sovereign’s main effect. The formula is rounded out by goji berries and ground pepper, tempering the formula’s tendency, and lean pork, rich in blood-and-flesh essence, nourishing the righteous qi, and chinese cabbage, harmonizing the stomach and supporting dietary nourishment, and ginger, acting as the envoy to harmonize the various ingredients, keeping the combination balanced and well-tempered. Together the herbs converge on this action, in accord with the kidney deficiency pattern.