Pulse diagnosis

Chinese pulse diagnosis techniques from 1554 CE

Against allopathy Alternative medicine

Clinically unproven

Grapefruit seed extract Curandero Aristolochia List of scientifically controlled double blind studies which have conclusively demonstrated the efficacy of homeopathy American Holistic Medical Association Human growth hormone

Woo-meisters

Russell Blaylock Pete Evans Thabo Mbeki Access Consciousness Edgar Cayce Falun Gong v - t - e

Pulse diagnosis is an unproven method of diagnosis used in some systems of alternative medicine, such as Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and Unani. It involves detecting minute changes in the pulse; some types of pulse include slippery, choppy, full, empty, slow, rapid, superficial, and deep.^[1] The practitioner should develop an instinct or "feel" for detecting these. However, practitioners using pulse diagnosis have low inter-rater reliability.^[2] In TCM, pulse diagnosis should happen before sunrise because the yin and yang are apparently in balance then.^[3] Pulse diagnosis should be for when the patient is at rest and not immediately following exercise.

This method is in no way related to empirically-verified diagnosis methods based on analysis of heart rate, on heart sounds such as heart murmurs or gallop rhythms or electrocardiography.

External links[edit]

• A Defence of Blood-letting, as a Remedy for Certain Diseases, by Benjamin Rush, which goes into some detail about pulse diagnosis.

References[edit]