Objective To analyze the medication rules of Pujifang for the treatment of extremity arthralgia by using data mining method. Methods The prescriptions for the treatment of extremity arthralgia was screened from Pujifang. The use frequency, and frequency distributions of drug property, drug flavor, meridian entries of Traditional Chinese Medicines in prescriptions were statistically analyzed by employing the Microsoft Excel software. For high⁃frequency Traditional Chinese Medicines (with use frequency of Traditional Chinese Medicines≥30 times), the SPSS 21.0 software was used to perform cluster analysis. The SPSS Clementine 12.0 software was used to establish visual network association chart, and the Aprior algorithm was used to perform the association rule analysis. CHAID, CRT and QUEST decision tree methods of SPSS Statistics 20.0 software were used to perform mining for pattern recognition. Results A total of 271 prescriptions were screened, involving 272 flavors of Traditional Chinese Medicines. There were 24 flavors of high⁃frequency Traditional Chinese Medicines, and the top 5 most frequently used Traditional Chinese Medicines were successively Cinnanmomi cortex, Saposhnikoviae radix, Aconiti lateralis radix praeparata, Angelicae sinensis radix, and Chuanxiong rhizoma. The drug properties of 272 flavors of Traditional Chinese Medicines were mainly warm and cold, drug flavors were mainly acrid and bitter, meridian entries were commonly liver meridian, kidney meridian, and lung meridian. The network association chart indicated that Saposhnikoviae radix, Angelicae sinensis radix, Chuanxiong rhizoma, Cinnanmomi cortex, Aconiti lateralis radix praeparata were strongly associated with other drugs, therein Saposhnikoviae radix was the core drug. Cluster analysis clustered high⁃frequency Traditional Chinese Medicines into five categories. By association rule analysis, 15 groups of 2 effective combinations of drugs and 3 groups of 3 effective combinations of drugs were obtained. Chuanxiong rhizoma and Saposhnikoviae radix were screened out by the decision tree with Angelicae sinensis radix as the dependent variable, among which Chuanxiong rhizoma was the optimal recognized Traditional Chinese Medicine. Conclusion In the prescriptions of Pujifang for the treatment of extremity arthralgia, the core combination drugs are Saposhnikoviae radix and Chuanxiong rhizoma. This prescription includes both cold drugs of clearing heat and promoting benefits, and warm drugs of dissipating cold and relieving pain; at the same time, it includes acrid and bitter drugs for activating qi, promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis. It focuses on promoting blood circulation and dispelling wind, warming yang and dispersing cold, and takes into account both promoting qi circulation and blood circulation, invigorating qi and water, and nourishing liver and kidney.

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