Objective By studying the prescriptions and medicines for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) prescribed by modem doctors, we tried to provide new ideas for developing the new medicines for treating rheumatoid arthritis. Methods 340 prescriptions on treating rheumatoid arthritis were collected from core medical periodicals and books published in the recent 20 years. Make a statistical analysis to the medicines in these prescriptions according to TCM etiological and pharmaceutical theories and modern researching foundlings. Results Among all 254 Chinese medicines used for treating RA, 32 medicines belong to worm and vine medicines, being used for 806 times. Conclusion The worm and vine medicines are frequently used in treating RA with good therapeutic effects combined with other kinds of medicines.