For individuals with urinary difficulty and limb swelling, coix seed is indicated along with poria, polyporus, astragalus root and cassia twig. Besides redistributing body fluids and expelling dampness, the herb also provides essential nutrients and enhances body functions, and thus is a common ingredient for the above condition. Coix seed can be used in urinary frequency due to damp-heat irritating the lower burner, that it is used with talc and plantain seed in the remedy. In some infectious diseases, when the individual develops alternative fever and chills, body aching, frequent nausea or vomiting, coix seed can be used with bitter apricot seed, jave amonum fruit, pinellia tuber, and talc, which can eliminate dampness and clear heat.

Spleen deficiency can cause frequent episodes of diarrhea, coix seed (over 30g) is used along with pilose asiabell root, largehead atractylodes rhizome, poria, Chinese yam and hyacinth bean to invigorate the spleen. When the individual also presents with lumbar soreness, knee weakness, aversion to coldness, limb coldness, diarrhea at dawn, that means kidney yang deficiency is also involved, the remedy should add in psoralea and dodder seed to warm the kidney system.

Coix seed can work with herbs, such as notopterygium root, pubescent angelica root, clematis root and Sichuan lovage rhizome, to treat arthritis, limb spasm and joint moving difficulty, which are regarded as wind and dampness pathologies in TCM. For serious cases such as severe joint swelling and stiffness, the remedy should add in atractylodes rhizome and largehead atractylodes rhizome to enhance the dampness expelling power; when the individual has accompanied apparent lumbar soreness and knee weakness, then the remedy should add in mulberry mistletoe and Himalayan teasel root to invigorate the liver and kidney. For disharmony of wind and dampness attacking the superficial body, that present with body aching, fever, headache, fatigue, nausea, and irritability (intestinal flu symptoms), it is proper to use coix seed along with ephedra, bitter apricot seed, and liquorice root for relief. Weakness and wasting of foot muscles can be due to damp-heat irritation too, coix seed can work with atractylodes rhizome, amur corktree bark, and cyathula root to clear heat, expel dampness, strength the knee and feet.

Coix seed is often used in internal abscess. For example, it is used with wax gourd kernel, peach kernel and reed rhizome for lung abscess; when the abscess is ruptured that leads to vomit large amount of bloody sputum, the remedy should add in platycodon root, common bletilla tuber and wild buckwheat rhizome, to facilitate the pus drainage. Coix seed can be selected with peony root bark, peach kernel and patrinia herb to treat intestinal abscess.

Coix seed only has a mild therapeutic effect, when it acts as a major ingredient in the remedy, a high dose (up to 30g) is usually indicated.