Introduction to Chinese Medicine Pulse Diagnosis

Taking the pulse is composed of the location (deep, shallow), speed (fast, slow), intensity (strong, weak), regularity (regularity, whether there are pauses) and shape of the aortic heartbeat. Pulse diagnosis is an important part of TCM syndrome differentiation. It has key clinical manifestations in identifying the cause of the disease, inferring the change of the disease, distinguishing the authenticity of the disease, and distinguishing the prognosis of the disease. Let’s discuss this below.

First of all, when taking the pulse, you should sit facing forward and "feel the right hand for the right hand and the left hand for the left hand." In other words, the doctor uses his right hand to feel the pulse of the patient's left hand, and his left hand to feel the pulse of the patient's right hand.

The main clinical application is the "Cunkou diagnosis method", which is to cut the part behind the wrist of the patient's radial artery. Cunkou is divided into three parts: Cun, Guan and Chi. Cun, Guan and Chi on the right hand represent heart, liver and kidney, while Cun, Guan and Chi on the left hand represent spleen, lung and kidney.

There are two basic theoretical bases for taking the pulse at the Cunkou point alone: ​​one is that the lungs are connected to all the meridians, and the pulse will meet at Taiyuan point. That is, all the meridians of the body gather in the lungs, and Cunkou is the course of the hand Taiyin lung meridian. The Taiyuan point above it is where the meridians meet, so there is a saying that "the meridians meet at Taiyuan". Second, the stomach and intestines are the source of blood and qi for all the internal organs. The rise and fall of blood and qi for all the internal organs are closely related to the function of the stomach and intestines, and the hand Taiyin lung meridian also originates from the function of the middle burner spleen. Therefore, the rise and fall of blood and qi in the meridians of the five internal organs of the body can be reflected in the Cunkou pulse.

The pulse rate is shallow. If you win, you get it. Pressing harder will reduce it slightly. This pulse is mostly a symptom of exogenous wind-cold, which means that the main symptom is on the surface. Floating and tight pulse indicates superficial cold, floating and rapid pulse indicates superficial heat, floating and strong pulse indicates superficial excess, and floating and weak pulse indicates superficial deficiency. It is common in the early stages of colds, flu and various infectious diseases.