The Importance Of Tongue Diagnosis In Chinese Medicine

Due to its use of unconventional techniques and approaches traditional acupuncture has raised a lot of skepticism. The ancient theories are also getting a lot of flak from modern conventional medicine since people cannot fully understand the connection between system equilibrium and physical illness.

What are the tools used in acupuncture and Chinese medicine diagnosis and is Chinese medicine diagnosis really accurate?

Tongue Diagnosis
Tongue diagnosis is a tool used in acupuncture in which acupuncturists thoroughly observe the tongue to look for presence of pathogens and determine the condition of the patient.

A tongue diagnosis cannot be significantly changed by nervousness and other short term conditions. It can sufficiently determine the nature and severity of a disease as well as the patient’s progress.

Basic tongue meridian and geography are as follows. The base of the tongue or lower Jiao is associated with the urinary bladder, kidney, and small and large intestine meridians. The sides of the tongue or middle Jiao relate to the gallbladder and liver meridians. The tongue’s middle part refers to the spleen and stomach meridians. The tip of the tongue or upper Jiao associates with the heart and lung meridians.

The color and shape of the tongue’s body as well as its other characteristics are also observed during diagnosis. The coating of the tongue suggests the spleen’s and stomach’s condition as well as the depth, strength, and temperature of pathogenic features. The rooting of the coat will also be evaluated.

Meridians and Pulses
Renamed electro-meridian imaging (EMI) in 1982, the ryodoraku system is deemed very easy to use and very reliable. Acupuncturists are now able to assess meridian status via their electric conductivity by dividing the sum of the added measured values of the acupoints by 24 that stands for the 12 bilateral meridians.

Ryodoraku was successful in introducing split meridians that reveal an association between different areas of the body and pulse points. The different characteristics and qualities of the pulse will be described to identify the existing pathogens and conditions within the body.

Pulse Interpretation
For millennia, acupuncture has followed a very subjective course grounded on the principle of Yin and yang and Taoist philosophy. When Dr. Yoshio Nakatani from Japan discovered ryodoraku during the 1950s, acupuncture diagnosis became a finely tuned method. Ryodoraku become synonymous with pulse diagnosis in which acupuncturists identify health problems and symptoms that depended on pulse descriptions often taken from the patient’s wrists.

The electronic evaluation system used in both modern and traditional acupuncture was initially developed by Dr. Nakatani. This system measured skin conductance at the source point or yuan of the wrist and ankle. The pulse diagnosis used by ancient acupuncturists and Ryodoraku both palpate 12 pulse points for about fifteen to twenty minutes per wrist. Historically, 28 pulse characteristics are used by practitioners to get a definite pulse diagnosis. However, acupuncturists can determine health problems also by finding out if a specific meridian is not in harmony with the 12 main meridians.