Classica Sinica Medica

筋溜

jīn liū

Sinew flow · jin liu

Also rendered: Sinew tumour (clinical, and it anticipates 瘤) · Sinew flux (plain, and 溜 is not a flux) · Sinew flow (the site's convention, keeping the water figure)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-26

At a glance

Pinyin
jīn liū
Simplified
筋溜
Literal
筋 jīn — sinew; 溜 liū — a run, a slide, the place where water gathers and moves on. Together: a swelling that forms where evil lodges in the sinew and cannot turn back.
Shuowen
《說文》水部有「溜，水名」，非此義。此篇諸「溜」皆取流行留聚之意，《釋名·釋疾病》：「瘤，流也，血流聚所生瘤腫也。」溜與瘤同源，故筋溜、腸溜與昔瘤並列。

In brief

Sinew flow is the first of the chapter’s six lesions. The mechanism is given in one sentence: 有所疾前筋，筋屈不得伸，邪氣居其間而不反，發於筋溜 — something attacks the front of the sinew, the sinew contracts and cannot stretch, evil lodges in the gap and does not return, and it issues as a sinew flow. The name is descriptive rather than clinical: 溜 is what runs and gathers, and the lesion is the place where the evil has pooled in a tissue that cannot move it on. The chapter pairs it with 腸溜, which forms the same way inside the bowel and takes years to do it, and with 昔瘤, which hardens under the hand. The three together are the chapter’s account of how a passing evil becomes a standing mass.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
病名 邪氣居其間而不反，發於筋溜
邪氣留在其間不返，發爲筋溜
Evil lodges and does not return: it issues as a sinew flow.
發於筋溜 — 靈樞·刺節真邪
2
成因 筋屈不得伸
筋蜷曲不得伸展
The sinew contracts and cannot stretch — the condition of the pooling.
筋屈不得伸 — 靈樞·刺節真邪

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

Display
1 passages
靈樞·刺節真邪 Read in context →
有所疾前筋，筋屈不得伸，邪氣居其間而不反，發於筋溜。有所結，氣歸之，衛氣留之，不得反，津液久留，合而爲腸溜，久者數歲乃成。以手按之柔。已有所結，氣歸之，津液留之，邪氣中之，凝結日以易甚，連以聚居，爲昔瘤，以手按之堅。 有所疾前筋，筋屈不得伸，邪气居其间而不反，发于筋溜。有所结，气归之，卫气留之，不得反，津液久留，合而为肠溜，久者数岁乃成。以手按之柔。已有所结，气归之，津液留之，邪气中之，凝结日以易甚，连以聚居，为昔瘤，以手按之坚。
yǒu suǒ jí qián jīn, jīn qū bù dé shēn, xié qì jū qí jiān ér bù fǎn, fā yú jīn liū. yǒu suǒ jié, qì guī zhī, wèi qì liú zhī, bù dé fǎn, jīn yè jiǔ liú, hé ér wéi cháng liū, jiǔ zhě shù suì nǎi chéng. yǐ shǒu àn zhī róu. yǐ yǒu suǒ jié, qì guī zhī, jīn yè liú zhī, xié qì zhōng zhī, níng jié rì yǐ yì shèn, lián yǐ jù jū, wéi xī liú, yǐ shǒu àn zhī jiān.
Where disease settles before the sinew, the sinew bends and cannot stretch, evil stays in between and does not return, and there arises sinew flow. Where there is a knot, qi returns to it, guarding qi stays, and it cannot return; fluids stay long and join to make intestinal flow, which in the long case takes years to form; pressed with the hand it is soft. Where a knot has already formed, qi returns, fluids stay, evil strikes it, and the coagulation daily worsens, joining and gathering into an old growth; pressed with the hand it is hard.
「筋溜」本篇1見，與腸溜、昔瘤同段，皆言邪氣留結而成積，筋溜居首，故引全段。

Compounds built on this term

腸溜
cháng liū
bowel flow
津液久留，合而爲腸溜
昔瘤
xī liú
the old tumour
凝結日甚，連以聚居

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This sitesinew flowthe pooling as a name
Literalsinew runexact, and it means nothing
Clinicala swelling in the sinewclear, and it explains the lesion

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-26

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Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

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