Pulse As An Indicator Of Health And Disease

Radial pulse has been the technique of monitoring health status in humans from the time immemorial. The pioneer philosopher Heraclitus (540-475 BC) talked about two opposite forces; the fire or the heat and the water as essential components of life. These forces are always under rhythmic change under the influence of cosmic oscillations and influence our cardiovascular system. Medical practitioners generally assess the radial pulse on the wrist without any distinction of left or right wrist, but the Chinese concept makes distinction between the right and the left wrist and pulse palpation at the radial artery. There are fourteen radial pulses according to the Chinese system of medicine. There are three positions on the radial artery on each wrist. Position one is near the base of the thumb. On the left wrist there are six pulses; on each position one superficial and one deep pulse could be felt. On right wrist there are eight pulses; two pulses could be felt at position one and pulses at three levels (superficial, middle and deep) could be felt at the position number two and three. In addition to radial pulses, peripheral pulses could be felt at nine other points on human body. An experienced physician may fulfill the diagnostic needs of a patient through assessment of radial pulses only. Three levels of physical status; normal (standard), low activity or hypoactivity and high activity or hyperactivity could be assessed through analysis of the count and quality (length, sharpness and dullness) of the pulse.

The way to assess radial pulses as per the Chinese concept: Place the middle finger of your hand at the apophysis of radius (i.e. position-2) of the patient's wrist, the index and the ring fingers will automatically be placed on other two positions. Remember the position one is at the base of the thumb. Ideally the pulse on the right wrist of the patient should be assessed with the fingers of your right hand and on the left wrist with the fingers of your left hand. Develop an arbitrary scoring criterion of 1 to 7 for the quality of the pulse. Let score 4 represent the normal or standard, 3 to 1 represent hypoactivity or weakness and 5 to 7 represent the hyperactivity or over activity of some organs. Pulse count is taken as beats per minute whereas the qualitative parameters of pulse could be assessed in 3 to 5 minutes. It needs a lot of practice and experience to learn the Chinese concept of pulse evaluation. Please refer to the article "Pulse and pulse pressure" published on this blog in the month of July 2008 for additional information.