This is a bit of an odd name to describe a diagnostic phenomenon in East Asian medicine, but it captures a common symptom patients present with in the clinic.
Running Piglet Qi is the name for that sense of uprising or rising anxiety you can feel in your chest. It range in severity from mildly uncomfortable – like a low whirling anxiety – or extremely intense, with sensations of having a panic attack.
There can be an energetic sense of uprushing from right under the solar plexus up into the chest and it can be accompanied by feelings of heart palpitations, flutterings, intense anxiety or nervousness, and digestive distress.
How unpleasant, right?
Texts in East Asian medicine (EAM) describe it as a sense of “internal urgency”.
Understanding Running Piglet Qi
Without getting into too much East Asian medicine theory, Running Piglet Qi can be understood as a kind of counterflow qi. A big component of EAM is making sure what’s supposed to go down goes down, what’s supposed to go up goes up, and what’s supposed to move freely is able to move freely.
Stomach and Liver Qi
Our Stomach Qi is supposed to go down. When it goes up you get acid reflux, nausea, vomiting, headaches, and certain allergic symptoms or issues with the sinuses.
When it can’t really go down, there’s constipation, bloating, and a feeling of slow or sluggish digestion.
The Liver Qi needs to move freely, all around and in all directions – robustly, but not chaotically. When it’s not able to move freely, there are migraines, hypochondriac pain, breast distention, PMS, eye twitching, irritability, and PMS.
These descriptions aren’t meant to be esoteric. They simply point to and describe basic physiological processes in the body (or what we would call the “qi dynamic” in East Asian medicine).
These are a couple of the different dynamics that can lead to this phenomenon of Running Piglet Qi.
Soothing the Rushing Feeling in the Chest
The different anatomical structures that can play into Running Piglet Qi presentations include the abdominal aorta (where pulsations can be palpation on abdominal examination), the abdominal organs, the nerves of the celiac plexus, and tense or guarding abdominal muscles.
The most important thing to know is that acupuncture and especially herbal medicine can very much help with this. It’s a very uncomfortable sensation to live with, and it can be effectively addressed.
