Pulses - descriptions Flashcards
felt with a light pressure of the fingers, just resting the fingers on the artery
floating (superficial)
- stops at regular intervals
intermittent
feels rather big but soft (actually rather big but feels empty on slightly stronger pressure and is soft)
weak + soft, “like a partially filled water balloon”
felt at the superficial level and is often slower than normal
empty (deficient, vacuous)
- extremely fine + soft, but lacks the clarity of the Thin pulse
- barely perceptible and seems about to disappear
minute (faint)
- feels smooth, rounded, slippery, as if it were oily, slides user the fingers
slippery (rolling)
- short + tight + slippery + rapid
- no definite shape, having no head or tail, just rising up in the center
- round shape like a bean, it is short and it “temples” under the finger
- feels as if it is shaking and also somewhat slippery
Moving (spinning bean)
- thinner than normal
- fine thread but is very distinct and clear
thin (fine, thready)
- slow, irregular pulse that skips beats irregularly
knotted (bound)
distinct only at the third level, when heavy pressure is applied
deep (sinking)
5 beats per respiration cycle
rapid
- rapid pulse that skips beats irregularly
hasty (abrupt, hurried)
- opposite of the Leather pulse and it is a form of the Hidden pulse: very deep + wiry + long + strong
- described as wiry pulse at the deep level
- felt only at the deep level - feels hard and rather wiry
Confined (prison, firm)
- surges with the strength of a big pulse but it leaves the fingers with less strength, like a receding wave
- feels big, it extends beyond the pulse position
- superficial and generally feels as if it overflows the normal pulse channel like “a river overflows during a flood”
surging (flooding)
- cannot be felt on the superficial level, but only at the deep level, also Soft
- soft + weak + thin
weak (frail)
- perceptible beyond the first and third positions
long
- extreme form of sinking/deep pulse
- intense pressure must be applied to feel it
- feels as if it were hidden under the bone
Hidden
- 4 beats for each respiration cycle
- normal in depth, speed, strength, and width
- pulse arrives leisurely
slow-down (moderate)
3 beats per respiration cycle of the practitioner
slow
- feels very small and is relatively superficial
- instead of feeling like a wave, the pulse feels as if it were “broken into small dots”
- larger but much less distinct that the Empty pulse, tends to be felt primarily as it recedes
Scattered
big + strong, pounding hard against the fingers at all 3 depths
feels full, rather hard and rather long
full (excess, replete)
- feels rough under the finger, as if it has a jagged edge to it, instead of a smooth wave
- sometimes irregular in strength and fullness
- ” a knife scraping bamboo or a sick silkworm eating a mulberry leaf”
choppy (hesitant, rough)
- feels twisted like a tight rope
- strong and seems to bounce from side to side like a taut rope
- fuller and more elastic than the wiry pulse
vibrating and urgent, it seems faster than it actually is
tight (tense)
occupies a space shorter than the normal position
- does not fill the spaces under the 3 fingers and is usually only felt in one position
short
- felt at the superficial level, but if one presses harder to find the middle it is not there, felt again at the deep level (empty in the middle)
- “like the stem of a green onion”
- often Floating as well
Hollow (scallion)
- taught-feeling, like a guitar or violin string, really hits the fingers
- strong, rebounds against pressure at all levels, and hits the fingers evenly, no fluidity or wavelike qualities
wiry (string-taut)
- wiry + floating + empty, feels like the tight skin on the top of a drum
- feels hard and tight tat the superficial level and stretched like a drum, nut it feels completely Empty at the Deep level
Leather (drumskin)
- felt only on the superficial level
- slightest pressure makes it disappear, “a bubble floating on water”
soggy (soft)
