Objective  To explore the medication rule of oral administration of Chinese herbs for postoperative swelling after fracture based on data mining.

  Methods  Clinical literatures on the oral administration of Chinese herbs for postoperative swelling after fracture were searched in major large databases at home and abroad by computers, and the retrieval time was from the establishment of the database to April 1, 2021. Excel 2016 software was used to establish the database for frequency analysis as well as nature, taste and meridian tropism analysis. SPSS statistics 23.0 and SPSS modeler 18.0 software were used for high frequency drug cluster analysis and association rule analysis.

  Results  The analysis showed that the main high-frequency traditional Chinese medicines were Danggui, Honghua and Taoren, the dominant nature of drugs was warm, the main flavors of the drugs were sweet, bitter and acrid, and meridian tropism were liver, spleen, heart and kidney meridians. The cluster analysis showed that the number of drugs for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis as well as invigorating qi and promoting diuresis was the largest, which was able to form Taohong Siwu Decoction plus modified Wuling Powder. The association rule analysis showed that the common drug pairs and drug combinations were Danggui-Honghua, Honghua-Danggui plus Taoren, and Honghua-Taoren.

  Conclusion  Pathogenesis of postoperative swelling after fracture is "qi stagnation and blood stasis, internal accumulation of stasis and dampness", the therapeutic principle is "promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, invigorating qi and promoting diuresis", and the prescription selection attaches importance to "Taohong Siwu Decoction combined with Wuling Powder".