Pulse

Question 1

Floating (Superficial)

Answer 1

D: Clearly felt with light pressure, somewhat weak with heavy pressure

• Exterior pattern
• Yin def if Floating and Empty

Question 2

Deep

Answer 2

D: Not clear with light pressure, but clear with heavy pressure

• Interior pattern
• Qi/Blood stag if Full
• Yang def if Weak

Question 3

Slow

Answer 3

D: Less than 4 beats per respiration cycle of the practitioner

• Cold pattern
• Def Cold if Weak
• Excess Cold if Full

Question 4

Rapid

Answer 4

D: More than 5 beats per respiration cycle of the practitioner

• Heat pattern
• Excess Heat if Full
• Def Heat if Thin

Question 5

Empty (Deficient, Vacuous)

Answer 5

D: Feels big but soft and without strength, “Empty” may suggest that nothing can be felt but this is not so, “A ballon partially filled with water”

• Qi/Blood def
• Organ Def

Question 6

Full (Excess, Forceful)

Answer 6

D: Feels forceful and rather long, pounding hard against the fingers at 3 depths

• Full pattern
• Excess Heat if Rapid
• Excess cold if Slow

Question 7

Surging (Flooding, Overflowing)

Answer 7

D: Arrives likes aves, hitting the fingers with strength at all 3 depths and overflowing, leaves the fingers w less strength debilitated like receding wave, “A river overflows during a flood”

• Excess Heat if Rapid
• Excess Cold if Slow

Question 8

Thin (Fine, Thready)

Answer 8

D: Fine like a thread, thinner than normal, but very distinct and clear

• Blood/Yin def
• Dampness w Qi def

Question 9

Slippery (Rolling)

Answer 9

D: Feels extremely fluid, smooth, rounded, and as if it were oily; Slides under the fingers like a ball bearing covered w viscous fluid; “Pearls in a porcelain basin”

• Accumulation of Phlegm, Damp or food
• Excess Heat
• Normal during pregnancy

Question 10

Choppy (Hesitant, Rough)

Answer 10

D: Feels as if it has a jagged edge, uneven and rough, and sometimes irregular in strength and fullness; “A knife scraping bamboo”

• Blood/Qi Stasis if Full
• Blood/Essence def if Thin

Question 11

Wiry (String-Taut, String-Like)

Answer 11

D: Strong and taut, w no fluidity or wavelike qualities; Rebounds against pressure at all levels and hits the fingers evenly, like a guitar string

• LV/GB disharmony (excess or def)
• Pain
• Food Retention

Question 12

Soggy (Soft, Weak-Floating)

Answer 12

D: Empty, Floating, extremely soft and thin but less clear than Thin; Perceptible only in the superficial level, the slightest pressure makes it disappear; “A bubble floating on water”

• Damp from excess or def
• Essence def

Question 13

Weak (Frail)

Answer 13

D: Soft, Fine and without Force; Felt only at the deep level; cannot be felt at the superficial level

• Qi/Yang def (b/c of its low amplitude)
• Blood def (b/c its Thin)

Question 14

Hasty (Abrupt, Hurried, Skipping)

Answer 14

D: Rapid and skips beats irregularly

• Excessive HT Yang, HT Fire
• Congested Qi in the Upper Jiao
• Accumulation of Phlegm or food
• HT Qi def if Weak

Question 15

Tight (Tense)

Answer 15

D: Arrives tightly and w force and seems to bounce from side to side like a taut rope, vibrating and urgent, Fuller and more elastic than Wiry

• Cold pattern (usually excess): Exterior cold if Floating/Interior Cold if Deep
• Pain
• Food retention

Question 16

Knotted (Bound)

Answer 16

D: Slow and skips beats irregularly

• Cold retention
• HT Blood stasis, PC Phlegm
• HT Qi/Yang def

Question 17

Intermittent (Regularly, Intermittent)

Answer 17

D: Regularly skips beats; Usually skips more beats than Hasty or Knotted

• Serious debilitation of all the internal organs
• Wind pattern, pain pattern
• HT problem, palpitation

Question 18

Long

Answer 18

D: Perceptible beyond the first and third positions, continues to be felt closer to the hand or up toward the elbow

-Excess Heat pattern (Surplus of Yang Qi)

Question 19

Short

Answer 19

D: Does not fill the spaces under the 3 fingers; Usually felt in only one position

• Severe Qi def
• Qi stag if forceful

Question 20

Minute (Faint)

Answer 20

D: Extremely Fine and Soft; Difficult to feel, barely perceptible, seems about to disappear, sometimes present, sometimes not

-Extreme def of Qi/Blood

Question 21

Moderate (Slow-Down)

Answer 21

D: Normal in depth, speed, strength and width, four beats for each respiration cycle of the practitioner

• Generally a healthy pulse
• Damp w SP def if Slippery

Question 22

Hollow (Scallion)

Answer 22

D: Felt at the superficial level and again at the deep level, but in the middle level it is Empty: “The stem of a green onion”

• Great Blood loss, Blood def
• Forthcoming hemorrhage if Rapid

Question 23

Leather (Drumskin)

Answer 23

D: Feels large, hard and tight at the superficial level like leather stretched on the top of a drum; but it feels completely Empty at the deep level

• Severe Essence def
• Blood def

Question 24

Confined (Prison, Firm)

Answer 24

D: Felt only at the deep level; hard and rather Wiry; described as a Wiry pulse at the deep level

• Interior Cold accumulation if Slow
• Blood stasis, pain

Question 25

Scattered

Answer 25

D: Floating, Big and Weak; scattered without root; disappears with pressing, but tends to be felt primarily as it recedes; Larger and much less distinct than Empty

• Severe def of KD Yuan Qi
• Imminent expiry of Zane-Fu Qi

Question 26

Hidden

Answer 26

D: Very deep and difficult to feel, finally obtained when the bone is found, clear only with heavy pressing; An extreme case of a Deep pulse

• Cold obstructing the meridian if Full
• Severe Yang def if Weak

Question 27

Moving (Spinning Bean, Stirred)

Answer 27

D: Short and round shape like a bean, felt in only one position, which feels as if it is trembling or shaking and also slippery

• HT palpitation, fright, anxiety
• Pain

Question 28

Big (Large)

Answer 28

D: Full, broad in diameter and very distinct

• Heat in the ST/Intestines
• Entrance of disease (with force)/ Outward floating of Yang def (without Force)