Pulse diagnosis is an important diagnostic tool in Traditional Chinese Medicine that doesn't tell the doctor what's wrong with you, but also how to treat it. So when you go to a Traditional Chinese Medicine physician for the first time, you may be surprised at the amount of time he or she will devote to reading your pulse. Not only will he or she take your pulse on one wrist, but actually in three places on each wrist at three different levels of pressure. This is because the different readings tell the physician different things about your body and your health in general.
Pulse diagnosis presents a detailed report on the health of your organs, plus a reading on how the chi, yin and yang of the blood are balancing. When the doctor reads your pulse, he or she is not just counting beats per minute, but is feeling if the pulse is smooth and flowing or is wiry or pounding. The strength or weakness of your pulse can tell the doctor a lot about specific health conditions.
When you get a Chinese pulse diagnosis, you can expect the doctor to take your pulse on your radial artery in three different places on your wrist, then at three different pressure levels. This should be done on both wrists in order to get an accurate reading on all of your internal organs. These readings are referred to as the nine regions.
Your pulse in your left wrist contains information about your heart, small intestine, liver, gallbladder, kidney and your bladder. Your pulse in your right wrist contains information about your lungs, large intestine, spleen, stomach and your gate of vitality fire. Your pulse is taken at three levels at each of these spots-the superficial pressure level, representing your state of chi and yang, the middle level of pressure, representing the condition of your blood and the deepest level of pressure, representing the condition of yin. The combination of these pulse readings results in a complex diagnosis about the condition of your health, chi level, balance of yin and yang and other pathological ailments the doctor may want to treat.
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The following information has been gathered and compiled over a period of years, through personal experience, while traveling, teaching classes that include T'ai Chi, Qi Gong, herbal information, martial arts and other health related subjects. |
