小兒疳證是由於餵養不當，或因多種疾病的影響，使脾胃受損，氣液耗傷，導致全身虛弱羸瘦，面黃髮枯的小兒常見慢性疾病。「疳」的涵義，有「甘」與「乾」不同， 疳證為「乾」的涵義，乃古代物資缺乏，小兒疳證多由「乾」引發。現代物質文明昌盛， 家長過度愛護小兒，飲食多甘味，小兒疳證多由「甘」引發。現代中醫對小兒疳證的治療已比古代進步，除了中醫藥治療外，尤重視家庭衛生教育及適當餵養行為的建立，加上針刺、捏脊，能同時提高疳證的療效，亦可預防疳證的發生。

Gan pattern is a common chronic disease in children. These children are generalized weak with marked emaciation caused by improper feeding or varieties diseases which injure stomach and spleen and damage qi and liquid. There are two different definitions of Gan which is sweet and the other is dry. “Dry” refers to malnutrition. It is because that the lack of resources happened a lot in the old days. On the contrary, people nowadays take advantage of the abundance of varieties resources. Most parents pamper their children by feeding them too much food especially sweetness. Both malnutrition and over-nutrition can lead to gan disease. Modern Chinese medicine treatment in gan disease has made enormous progress in different ways, especially in the establishment of domestic hygiene and feeding model plus acupuncture, spine pinching which can not only prevent the disease but also enhance the theraputic efficacy.