Objective: To study the medication rules of rheumatism prescriptions from the Xin’an medical practitioner Wang Renzhi. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of rheumatism cases recorded in Wang Renzhi’s Medical Records. Office 2010 was used to calculate the frequencies of common medications used for rheumatism by Wang. SPSS 20.0 was used to conduct systematic cluster analysis for the common medicines

and perform dimension reduction and principal component factor analysis for the medicines. Results: Seventy prescriptions were collected

involving 127 drugs with a cumulative use frequency of 964. The commonly used drugs included wind-damp dispelling drugs

blood-activating and stasis-resolving drugs

and deficiency-tonifying drugs. Thirtysix pairs of drugs were found to be used together at least 15 times. Cluster analysis showed 11 drug combinations involving frankincense

myrrh

Radix Aconiti

Radix Aconiti Lateralis Preparata

Cornu Cervi Degelatinatum

and prepared Radix Rehmanniae. Factor analysis presented 7 drug combinations involving Clematis chinensis

Stephania tetrandra

Photinia serrulata leaves

Ramulus Cinnamomi

frankincense

myrrh

Radix Aconiti

and Pheretima. Conclusion: Wang Renzhi’s prescriptions for rheumatism have distinct characteristics

and address both symptoms and origins of the disease. Wind-damp dispelling drugs remove exogenous pathogenic factors to alleviate symptoms; bloodactivating and stasis-resolving drugs resolve internal stagnation to target origins. The therapies feature benefiting Qi to activate and tonify blood as well as nourishing the liver and kidney to protect vital Qi.