Q Since having my second child, my wrists and knees feel cold and tingly whenever I'm exposed to a draft. Why does postpartum wind illness (sanhubung) happen?
A After childbirth, the joints and ligaments are loose and weakened by blood loss and hormonal changes, so they easily develop pain with cold exposure and overuse. The coldness, tingling, and pain that begin after childbirth are commonly called postpartum wind illness (sanhubung).
Detailed Answer
After childbirth, the ligaments that hold the joints together remain loose due to the hormonal effects of pregnancy, and recovery capacity is reduced by blood loss and lack of sleep. During this period, exposure to cold or overuse of the wrists and knees can easily bring on coldness, tingling, and throbbing pain. This condition, commonly called \"postpartum wind illness (sanhubung),\" often lingers once it sets in, so early management is important.
Korean Medicine Clinic Perspective
In Korean medicine, postpartum wind illness is understood as cold wind (pung-han, wind-cold) penetrating through the pores (juri) of the skin, which open up when qi and blood become depleted after childbirth, causing the qi and blood to congeal and stagnate (eungche) so that the joints feel cold and tingly. Therefore, rather than merely suppressing the pain with painkillers, we place importance on an approach that tonifies (bo) the depleted qi and blood and drives out the cold that has seeped in, so that the joints circulate warmly.
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