The Miao people think that six factors lead to diseases, poison, weakness, injury, overwork, bacterium and insect. They diagnose diseases by pulse feeling, observing facial color, inquiry, touching, beating, scraping, and pressing, etc. They think that by using these methods, they can diagnose the physical and mental abnormalities of the patients.
Sources of the Miao drugs come from plants, animals and some minerals. The characteristics of the drugs are divided into hotness, coldness, neither hot nor cold. Hot drugs are supposed to treat cold diseases and vice vesa. According to incomplete statistics, there are 1,500 common drugs and 200 commonly used drugs.
Sources of Miao drugs scatter in the Miao Mountain, Wu Meng Mountain, and Wu Ling Mountain where most Miao people live. Herbs for drugs have been distributed unevenly depending on the different geographical locations, geographical environment and different habit of making drugs. Some are commonly seen everywhere, such as Houttuynia, platycodon root, etc. Others only can be seen in certain areas or in places of high altitude, such as Usnea barbata. In recent years, many medicinal material planting places are set up in areas where most Miao people live. These places are established to plant some commonly used herbs such as gastrodia tuber, poria, and eucommia bark, etc.