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Wind is the chief of all diseases. Its changes are unpredictable. When it invades the human body, wind pathogen tends to affect the upper part first, while dampness pathogen tends to affect the lower part first. Both enter through the Foot-Taiyang Bladder Meridian.

Wind damages the Defensive Qi (Wei Qi), and dampness flows into the joints, where pathogens struggle against each other. Consequently, symptoms such as sweating, aversion to wind, shortness of breath, fever, headache, vexing pain in the bone joints, heaviness of the body, and slight swelling manifest. In such cases, resolution through sweating is indeed appropriate. However, inducing sweat should be done gradually rather than abruptly. Abrupt sweating expels the wind but leaves the dampness behind, whereas gradual sweating eliminates both wind and dampness. For those unsuitable for sweating therapy, it is because wind-dampness intermingling often involves Yang deficiency. When Yang is deficient, sweating is contraindicated; instead, acrid-warm herbs that strengthen Yang and boost Qi should be used to support Yang and drive out dampness. Whenever shortness of breath is observed, although caused by pathogenic obstruction of healthy Qi, one must consider deficiency of Yang in the chest. Whenever sweating accompanied by slight panting is observed, although attributed to Lung Qi affected by pathogens, one must consider the impending collapse of True Yang.

The patient presents with fever in the body but cold feet, stiffness and rigidity of the neck and nape with aversion to cold, occasional heat in the head, redness of the face and eyes, shaking of the head, lockjaw, and opisthotonos (backward arching of the back). This is Spasm Disease (Jing Bing) (see detailed discussion in *Jin Gui Yao Lue*).

External contraction of the Six Excesses (Liu Yin) transmits from the Taiyang stage to the other meridians. If the pathogen does not transmit completely, the disease persists. Thus, the Three Yang and Three Yin stages can all lead to spasm. For instance, transmission from Taiyang to Yangming causes stiffness of the neck and back; Shaoyang causes stiffness of the neck. Hence, it is known that the Three Yang stages can all cause spasm. Haizang (Zhang Yuansu) stated that the Three Yang and Taiyin stages suffer from spasm, omitting Shaoyin and Jueyin. He claimed that opisthotonos belongs to Taiyang, looking down with head lowered, traction of limbs, and elbows meeting knees belong to Yangming, or unilateral eye deviation and hand convulsions belong to Shaoyang, fever with deep-thin pulse and abdominal pain belong to Taiyin. Fangfeng Danggui Decoction is used to treat spasm caused by excessive sweating in Taiyang and Yangming stages. Chaihu Jia Fangfeng Decoction is used to treat spasm resulting from unresolved alternating chills and fever after sweating in the Shaoyang stage. Although he did not explicitly mention Shaoyin and Jueyin, his formulations—Fuzi San, Guixin Baizhu Tang, and Fuzi Fangfeng San—imply their relevance. Regarding Guixin Baizhu Tang, he noted: "Resolves the Three Yang above, resolves Taiyin below." His meticulous intent was likely to suggest that transmission to Shaoyin and Jueyin inevitably leads to fatal conditions. However, pathogenic transmission is like wind and rain arriving; how can one draw boundaries to prevent its spread? *Ling Shu* states that the sinews of the Foot-Shaoyin Meridian run along the interior of the spine, flanking the paraspinal muscles, ascending to the nape where they join the sinews of the Foot-Taiyang Meridian. Pathology here primarily manifests as epilepsy, convulsions, and spasm. External Yang pathology prevents flexion (bending forward); internal Yin pathology prevents extension (bending backward). This demonstrates the connection between the Foot-Shaoyin Zang organs and Foot-Taiyang Fu organs. Inability to bend forward indicates Taiyang governs the exterior; inability to bend backward indicates Shaoyin governs the interior. This differentiation is precise. Zhang Zhongjing attributed stiffness of the head and spine with inability to bend forward to Taiyang spasm, thereby encompassing the Three Yang stages. He attributed curling of the body and legs with inability to bend backward to Shaoyin spasm, thereby encompassing the Three Yin stages. Spasm involving the Three Yin stages, or Yang syndromes presenting with Yin pulses, are incurable. Cases with fixed staring eyes or upward deviated eyes (Dai Yan) are also untreatable. Therefore, Zhang Zhongjing only discussed treatment methods for the Three Yang stages, excluding the Three Yin stages.

Children have fragile constitutions and timid Shen (Spirit), unable to withstand severe external febrile pathogens, often developing spasm disease. Later generations erroneously named this condition "Convulsive Wind" (Jing Feng). In reality, they referred to the head shaking and limb tension of spasm disease as the jerking of convulsive wind; the sudden lockjaw and foot cramping of spasm disease as the twitching of convulsive wind; and the opisthotonos of spasm disease as the opisthotonos of convulsive wind. The reckless administration of sedating-convulsion drugs draws external pathogens deeper into the Zang-Fu organs, resulting in death in every case. Similarly, postpartum women have empty blood chambers (Xue She). External wind invades due to this emptiness, causing spasm disease. Zhang Zhongjing stated that new mothers lose blood, become deficient, sweat excessively, and easily contract wind, thus suffering from spasm. Treatment should focus on expelling wind from the blood chamber. If misdiagnosed as postpartum convulsive wind and treated with inappropriate decoctions, it too results in death in every case.