The pulse: The four axes
Four words describe any pulse. 6 activities, about 13 minutes.
Four questions and it is described
Depth, rate, strength and shape. With those four you describe a pulse without knowing a single name, and — more importantly — you can write it in the notes so that in three months it still means the same thing.
- Depth
- superficial or deep: exterior or interior
- Speed
- slow or fast: cold or heat
- Strength
- forceful or not: excess or deficiency
- Shape
- thin, wide, wiry, slippery
Common mistake: Writing a classical name in the notes without the axes. In three months nobody will know what was actually felt.
Rate, with a reference
Classically the pulse is counted per breath of the examiner: four beats per cycle is normal, three or fewer is slow and five or more is fast. The reference matters because the same number means different things at different ages.
- Adult at rest
- roughly sixty to eighty per minute
- Small child
- much faster, and that is normal
- A well-trained person
- slow without meaning cold
- Working rule
- compare with the age, not with the table
Common mistake: Diagnosing cold in an athlete with fifty beats a minute and no other cold sign.
Which axis does each observation belong to?
- Felt on light touch and gone under pressure
- Five beats per breath
- Fades under the finger when pressed
- Feels taut, like a guitar string
- You must press to the bone to find it
- Strikes firmly at any pressure
A superficial, fast, forceful pulse in someone febrile since yesterday. How do you read it?
A patient with night flushes and dryness. Build the description of the pulse you expect.
Match each end of an axis with its meaning.
Level complete!
Recorded. That standard is yours now.
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Study content. The exercises describe concepts of Traditional Chinese Medicine; they are not medical advice.
