## Not always a matter of strength

Men tend to wait the longest to bring certain things up. Erections that aren't what they were. Less drive, less energy. A dull ache in the groin or a testicle that comes and goes. A cold, heavy feeling down below. Itching that won't clear. Most men assume the answer is something to boost — more testosterone, more stamina, a pill. Sometimes that's right. Often the picture is more complicated.

The Donguibogam, the 1613 master text, gives this part of the body its own chapter, and it is more careful than most modern advertising. We translated it in full.

[→ The Anterior Yin — full translated chapter]

## The Liver's territory

The chapter's starting point surprises most patients. The genitals, it says, are where the "ancestral sinew" gathers, and the channel that wraps them is the Liver's. Sexual function and groin pain are read first through the Liver — the organ that, in this tradition, governs the free flow of Qi, and that is most affected by stress, frustration, and anger.

That changes the first questions we ask. Not only "how is your energy?" but "how is your stress, your sleep, your temper, your drinking?"

## Two opposite causes of erectile difficulty

The chapter names two causes of erectile difficulty, and they point in opposite directions.

**Worn down.** Excessive spending of energy — overwork, overindulgence, long illness, age — exhausts the sinew so that it cannot rise. This is depletion, and it is strengthened and warmed.

**Fired up and stuck.** The chapter then adds a case it says the strengthening formulas cannot help: where severe pent-up heat is the cause, warming tonics do nothing, and what is needed is medicine that clears the fire. In modern life, that is the man under heavy stress, drinking more than he should, sleeping badly, short-tempered — in whom more stimulation makes things worse, not better.

Telling those two apart is the most important part of treatment. Many men have tried the strengthening approach first, and it hasn't worked because they were the second kind.

## Cold below

The chapter describes another picture men sometimes recognize: the genitals and lower belly cold as ice, often with low drive, frequent urination, and cold feet. It reads this as the warmth of the lower body running low, and treats it by warming.

## Groin and testicular pain

The chapter's longest section is on what it calls "mounting" — pain that runs from the testicle into the lower abdomen, sometimes with swelling, sometimes with a dragging heaviness. It says this belongs to the Liver channel alone, and that most of it comes from cold knotting and gathering. It also notes that one-sided swelling often follows anger or strain.

Today that territory covers several different things — hernias, varicoceles, inflammation of the testicle or epididymis, chronic pelvic pain, and pain referred from the back or hip. Some of these need a physician; some respond well to treatment here once they've been diagnosed.

## What the chapter tells you to cut out

The chapter's advice on groin pain is blunt: unless excess sexual activity and rich food are cut back, it says, medicine cannot work at all. For erectile difficulty, heavy drinking, poor sleep, smoking, and long stretches of stress are the first things we look at — not because the herbs don't matter, but because they don't work against those.

## What treatment looks like here

Acupuncture is used to support erectile function, reduce groin and pelvic pain, improve energy, and calm the stress that drives much of this. The chapter's points concentrate on the Liver channel and the lower abdomen: LR1 Dadun at the big toe, LR3 Taichong on the foot, LR4 Zhongfeng at the ankle, LR5 Ligou on the shin, CV4 Guanyuan below the navel, SP6 Sanyinjiao, and ST36 Zusanli. For pain with retraction it moxas LR4 Zhongfeng.

Herbal medicine follows the pattern — depleted, cold, or stuck. From the chapter:

[Hwanso-dan 還少丹](https://formulas.raahacupuncture.com/formulas/hwanso-dan) — for erectile difficulty from depletion

[Palmi-hwan 八味丸](https://formulas.raahacupuncture.com/formulas/palmi-hwan) — for cold below, with low drive and frequent urination

[Sipbo-hwan 十補丸](https://formulas.raahacupuncture.com/formulas/sipbo-hwan) — for deep cold and weakness of the lower body

[Geumryeongja-hwan 金鈴子丸](https://formulas.raahacupuncture.com/formulas/geumryeongja-hwan) — for a swollen, dragging testicle, once evaluated

[Hoehyangansin-tang 茴香安腎湯](https://formulas.raahacupuncture.com/formulas/hoehyangansin-tang) — for cold groin and testicular pain

For erectile difficulty from stress and heat, the chapter turns away from tonics altogether to cooling medicines; we choose those individually.

Everything here is confidential, and we're used to these conversations. Most men notice changes in energy and sleep first; sexual function often follows over several weeks.

If urinary symptoms are part of the picture, read more here — [Bladder & urinary health](https://www.raahacupuncture.com/bladder-urinary)

## Please read this part

Some of these symptoms need a physician first, and not later.

**Get emergency care if you have:** sudden, severe pain in a testicle, especially with swelling, nausea, or vomiting — testicular torsion can cost the testicle within hours; a groin bulge that becomes painful, firm, and won't push back in, especially with vomiting; or an erection lasting more than four hours.

**See a physician before starting here if you have:** a lump or hard area in a testicle, even if painless; blood in the urine or semen; groin pain with fever or burning urination; or erectile difficulty that is new, especially over age 40 — it can be an early sign of heart disease or diabetes, and is worth checking.

The 1613 chapter draws its own line. It describes groin pain that brings cold sweat, trembling, grinding of the teeth, and vomiting as a moment when "he cannot be saved," and lists vomiting with severe groin pain as the most dangerous sign. That picture still means: go now.

**This approach may help if you're dealing with:** erectile difficulty, once evaluated · low drive or energy · sexual function affected by stress, alcohol, or poor sleep · a cold feeling in the groin or lower belly · chronic groin or testicular discomfort, once evaluated · chronic pelvic pain · scrotal itching and dampness.

The Donguibogam translation project at formulas.raahacupuncture.com is researched and translated by Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M. — the same clinician you'll see in the treatment room.

[Book a consultation →](https://www.raahacupuncture.com/contact)