There are two methods of palpation in Traditional Chinese Medicine. One is
called General Palpation which refers to general touch on arteries located in
some certain parts of body. The other method is called Cunkou Pulsing method
which is generally adopted by Chinese Medicine. Cunkou is located at the surface
position of flexible artery behind wrist. If pulse can be felt as floating wood
on water by light touch of figures, it is called floating pulse. This pulse
condition usually means that there is light and surface exogenous disease. There
is also a pulse condition called deep pulse which can be felt only by heavy
touch. This usually shows pathological changes on internal organs.
Normally, pulse of healthy adult should be around 70 per minute and a little
slower or faster are also normal. If an adult has more than 90 pulses per
minute, we call it rapid pulse and fever disease may appear. On the other
condition, if pulse is less than 60 per minute, we call it slow pulse and
disease caused by cold factor may appear. Floating pulse and deep pulse can be
used to judge the position of lesions while rapid pulse and slow pulse can be
used to distinguish the nature of disease. Whether the pulse is strong or not
can be taken to judge excess or deficiency of the disease.
Because the development of a disease is a complex process, there are various
pulse conditions with different characteristics in diagnosis. After long-term
clinical practice, Traditional Chinese Medicine has summarized a series of
systemic pulse theory, contributing great to human health.