Video: Traditional Chinese Medicine: Pulse Diagnostics

Mastering pulse diagnostics is one of the more difficult and unique tasks within traditional Chinese medicine. Learn more about pulse diagnostics and tcm from an acupuncturist in this free alternative medicine video.

Video Transcript

One of the more unique and probably more difficult skills to master in traditional Chinese medicine diagnostics is the pulse diagnostics. When your acupuncturist goes to check your pulse, it will be different from when a nurse or a doctor goes and checks your pulse. They're usually looking for things like the rate, how fast your heart is beating and maybe the strength. Other than that, they don't get a lot of information from that pulse diagnosis. For the Chinese practitioner, it tells us so much more. You'll find that your Chinese practitioner will actually check both sides, both hands, and that they're going to spend probably a few minutes on each pulse that they check. There's a few other different things as well. When your doctor or nurse takes it, they usually use two fingers on your radial pulse at the edge of the wrist. The acupuncturist will actually use three fingers because we're going to check three different positions as well as three depths. There is a relationship then to the organs within side the body. So just like the tongue diagnosis gave us a great deal of insight into what was going on internally, the pulse can do the same thing as well. So a rapid pulse tells us that there is heat inside. A slow pulse tells us there is cold, a floating pulse may tell us that you're catching a cold or a flu. So there's many other things that it can tell us that takes years to practice and perfect for the Chinese practitioner. So be sure to ask your practitioner some questions about why they're taking their time and what they're looking for.

Traditional Chinese Medicine: Pulse Diagnostics

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