OBJECTIVETo review the herbal drugs most often used throughout history for the treatment of osteoporosis; to study their property, flavor and meridian attribution; and to explore their compatibility.

METHODSThe "Chinese Medical Classics" (upgrade) CD-ROM was used to retrieve historical prescriptions for the treatment of osteoporosis, and these were collected and sorted. Property, flavor and meridian attribution were determined, and the rules of herbal administration were determined by cluster analysis.

RESULTSA total of 389 prescriptions were found, involving 238 herbal drugs, with a total frequency of appearance of 4,236. Commonly used medications were Radix Achyranthis Bidentatae, Radix Rehmanniae praeparata, Cortex Cinnamomi, Cortex Eucommiae, Poria, Herba Cistanches, Radix Aconiti lateralis and Radix Angelicae sinensis. The herbs used included five kinds of properties, appearing a total of 2,499 times; the two most common ones were warm and plain. There were seven different drug flavors, occurring 4,151 times; sweet and bitter were the two most common ones. Eight meridian attributions were identified, appearing a total of 6,374 times; Kidney (Shen)-meridian and Liver (Gan)-meridian were the two most common ones. The most common functional categories were yang-tonifying medicinal and blood-tonifying medicinal, and together these accounted for 37.8% of the total. The twenty-eight most commonly used herbal drugs formed 3 prescription clusters: C1: Cortex Eucommiae, Poria, Radix Achyranthis Bidentatae; C2: Cortex Eucommiae, Poria, Radix Achyranthis Bidentatae, Cortex Cinnamomi, Radix Rehmanniae praeparata, Herba Cistanches, Radix Angelicae sinensis, Radix Aconiti lateralis, Semen Cuscutae; C3: Os Tigris, Rhizoma Atractylodes Alba, Radix Moromdae Officinalis, Radix Angelicae pubescentis, Radix Paeoniae Alba, Herba Dendrobii, Rhizoma Alismatis, Fructus Corni, Radix Saposhnikoviae.

CONCLUSIONSDeficiency is the primary pathogenetic factor in osteoporosis, along with "stagnation" and lack of flow of water or blood. Clinical treatment of osteoporosis should be based on Kidney, Liver and Spleen (Pi) supplementation, and complemented by diuresis and dissolution of stasis, while paying attention to adjustment of the spirit.