Dit da jow

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (March 2008)

Dit Da Jow in Chinese literally means “fall hit wine” it is a popular liniment sold to heal external damage (such as bruises, sore muscles, etc). There are several different Recipes of Dit Da Jow, most of which are considered to be a "secret formula" passed down though oral and written history of Traditional Chinese Medicine TCM, martial arts, and modern Western science. Although Chinese tradition traces the origins of Chinese medicine to demigods named the Divine Plowman (Sheng Nung) and the Yellow Emperor (Huang Ti) who are said to have lived in the early 3rd millennium B.C., the earliest available historical records of Chinese medicine are medical texts dating from the Han Dynasty, which reigned from the late 3rd century B.C. to the early 3rd century A.D. via several Chinese materia medica.

Dit Da Jow is an analgesic liniment traditionally preferred by martial artists. Often a martial arts master blended his unique mixture of many aromatic herbs such as myrrh and ginseng, which were combined to stimulate circulation, reduce pain and swelling, and improve healing injuries and wounds.^[1] The tradition became known as hit medicine. Many people have also found this sort of liquid analgesic to be useful for reducing aching muscles, arthritis and rheumatism discomfort.

All bruise liniment formulas contain ingredients to stop pain, reduce swelling and inflammation and disperse stagnant qi and blood. It is comprised of cooling herbs to reduce swelling and inflammation as effectively as ice; and warming herbs that kill pain, promote circulation, and break up accumulations of stagnant blood and fluids. "Dit Da Jow" or "Dit Dat Jow" are the common spelling. However, the correct term is "Dit Da Jau" in Cantonese, and "Die Da Jiu" in Mandarin.

Herbs in the formulas according to TCM use "Temperature" and "Action" with each herb exhibiting an "energy" that has an effect on the body, some are cold while others are hot. The overall combination of herbs in a dit da jow formula determine its relative energy. Warmer jow is more often used in conditioning or chronic injury while cooler jow is more likely to be used for new injuries that may be inflamed. The action of each herb has specific uses that one might use it for. A dit da jow should have 1 or 2 primary actions, determined by the herbs which are used in the dit da jow formula.^[2]

Dit da jow is the number one remedy for bruises, contusions, sprains, and factures. Most bruises are usually shrugged off by athletes and martial artists as minor injuries that will heal themselves. Over the centuries, Kung Fu practitioners noticed that large bruises or repeated bruising on one area sometimes created accumulations of stagnant qi and blood that could cause serious health problems years later. Trauma liniment was developed to disperse these accumulations and treat sports injuries, thereby prolonging the soldier/warrior/athlete's career and health. Today Dit Da Jow can be bought on internet shops and through martial arts catalogs or it can be directly obtained from a Chinese apothecary or master. Dit Da Jow is primarily used by martial artists to aid the healing of Iron palm training.