Chinese Diagnosis
 Chinese doctors read basic physical signs of
health and disease in the eyes, complexion, color and texture of the tongue and
tongue fur, pulse, and the patient’s personal habits.
Interviewing, observing, listening, and feeling are the four basis methods of
diagnosis.
The interview focuses on the major symptoms of the disease and background
factors which may have contributed to its development.
With methodical visual observation, traditional Chinese doctors try to find
visual onsets of an ailment or problem by examining the skin coloring and form,
tongue color and tongue fur, eyes, secretions and excretions, as well as the
patient’s mood and movements. The examination of the tongue (its color and fur)
is the most important method of the observation-diagnosis and requires years of
experience.
Listening to the patient’s breathing, coughing, speech, and the sounds coming
from the visceral organs are also important factors in the listening technique.
Most important is the traditional Chinese pulse diagnosis: the physician uses
three fingers with light pressure to feel various radial pulses at three
different depths, each reflecting the condition of a different vital organ and
its function. Some skilled doctors can detect over thirty different pulse
qualities. Chinese pulse diagnosis requires sensitive fingers and years of
sensorial “listening”.
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