Tongue Flashcards
What does a puffy/swollen tongue indicate?
Damp
What does a thin tongue indicate?
Blood deficiency
What does a narrow tongue indicate?
Yin deficiency
Qi stagnation
What does a long tongue indicate?
Heart fire
Phlegm-fire in the Heart
(Log tongue pertains to the heart)
What does a short tongue indicate?
Yin deficiency
What does a scalloped tongue indicate?
Qi deficiency
Yang deficiency
(Yang deficiency causing damp; won’t have a scalloped tongue w/o puffiness)
What does a depressed/indented tongue indicate?
Qi deficiency
What does a cracked tongue indicate?
Yin deficiency
Qi deficiency
What does a hammer shapes tongue indicate?
Phlegm-fire harassing the Heart
Upward rushing of heat and insubstantial phlegm
What does a pointed tongue indicate?
Heart yin deficiency
What do macules/papules indicate?
Heat
Congealed heat
(“Bound heat”)
What do sores on the tongue indicate?
Heart fire
Deficiency fire
What does a tongue with a cleft at the tip indicate?
Heart yin deficiency
What does tongue body color indicate?
Hot/Cold
What does a pale tongue indicate?
Qi deficiency
Yang deficiency
Blood deficiency
Cold (paleness with a blue to to tinge)
What does a red tongue indicate?
Heat
Darker red: yin deficiency
(Brighter red: yang xs heat)
What does a crimson tongue indicate?
Fire
Racing pulse
What does a lavender/dusky tongue indicate?
Qi stagnation
Blood stasis
What does a dusky/purple tongue indicate?
Pronounced Qi stagnation
Pronounced Blood stasis
What do red spots (petechia) indicate?
Bound heat
Tx bound heat first
What do blue/purple spots indicate?
Blood stasis
Often found in Lv/Gb area
What do black spots indicate?
Severe heat or stasis
What is tongue body motility in 8 principles?
Yang/Yin
What does a deviated tongue indicate?
Internal wind
What does a quivering tongue indicate?
Internal wind (holding shape but shaking)
Qi deficiency (quivering and changing shape)
What does a flicking tongue movement indicate?
Heart fire
Internal Wind
(Also side-effect of some anti-depressants)
What does the inability to fully extend the tongue indicate?
Not a short tongue
Qi deficiency
What does a stiff tongue indicate?
Phlegm obstructing the Heart orifices
What does a rigid tongue indicate?
Wind stroke
What does a flaccid/limp tongue indicate?
Qi deficiency
Yang deficiency
What does tongue coat thickness indicate in 8 principles?
Excess/deficient
Exterior/Interior
What does a thin tongue coat indicate?
Normal
What does a thick tongue coat indicate?
Phlegm-Damp
What does a peeled tongue indicate?
Heart Yin Deficiency
Stomach Qi Deficiency
What does a geographic tongue coat indicate?
Constitutional yin deficiency
Patchy but rooted
What does a glossy/mirror tongue coat indicate?
Yin deficiency
So little coat it looks shiny
What does tongue coat texture indicate in 8 principles?
Excess/Deficiency
What does a slimy greasy tongue coat indicate?
Phlegm
Buttered tongue
What does a moldy/granular tongue coat indicate?
Phlegm with underlying deficiency
Balls of greasy coat
What does a rooted tongue coat indicate?
Excess
What does an unrooted tongue coat indicate?
Deficiency
What does a dry tongue coat indicate?
Heat
What does tongue coat color indicate in 8 principles?
Hot/Cold
Exterior/Interior
What does a white tongue coat indicate?
Normal (if rooted and thin)
Cold
Cold-Damp
Phlegm-Damp
What does a yellow tongue coat indicate?
Heat
Damp-Heat
What does a grey tongue coat indicate?
Heat
Turbid phlegm-damp
Deficiency fire
What does a black tongue coat indicate?
Critical stage of disease
Smoking
What does tongue moisture represent in 8 principles?
Excess/deficiency
Hot/cold
What does a wet tongue coat indicate?
Yang deficiency
Damp
What does a dry tongue indicate?
Fluid deficiency
What does a foamy tongue indicate?
Sp/St deficiency
Phlegm-rheum in Lung
(Fluid and air combining)
What does a pasty tongue moisture indicate?
Food stagnation
Phlegm in St
(Often occurs with a greasy tongue coat)
What do absent sublingual veins indicate?
Normal
What do visible sublingual veins indicate?
Blood stasis
What do distended sublingual veins indicate?
Pronounced blood stasis
What does tongue body shape relate to in 8 principles?
Excess/deficiency
