Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine

Chinese Medicine is well known for its subtle diagnostic skills, which can pick up illness very early. Its strength is that it can often pick up certain problems long before the G.P. diagnoses an “illness”.

A good practitioner of Chinese Medicine will spend a long time on diagnosis. Unfortunately some practitioners just knock out set formulae for each disorder, instead of taking the time to arrive at a specific diagnosis for each patient. If you visit a practitioner of Chinese Medicine, make sure they are part of the official national registers (see home page for details).

Diagnosis is based on:
• Physical appearance, such as posture, skin colour and tone.
• Detailed questioning on areas such as sleep, energy, bowels, and lifestyle.
• Tongue inspection: the tongue reflects the inside of the body, and certain areas of the tongue correspond to different organs. For example, a swollen tongue can show digestive weakness, and red tongue sides can show Liver inflammation.
• Feeling the Pulses : there are six pulse positions, each representing a specific organ. There are 28 different “qualities” of pulse, which give the practitioner detailed information about the state of the organs.