Assessing the pulse was a critical tool for patient evaluation in most medical systems except the modern era. All of these traditions were in basic agreement about how the pulse should be interpreted, suggesting pulse diagnosis is not a mystical arcane art, but a logical undertaking. Pulse interpretation is a logical first step in avoiding complications and hastening improvements.
This lecture introduces a step-by-step method for palpating and parsing a patient’s pulse, allowing you to assess what general circulatory impact is needed to address their pathologies. The goal of medicine is always to avoid side effects (i.e., do no harm) while maximizing efficacy. Manipulation of micro-circulation underpins both, by creating either a glut of circulation or a dearth of it when patients worsen; and by providing just the right amount of blood flow to involved tissues to see our patient improve. We’ll discuss how to use interpretations of the pulse to then decipher which herbs in your chosen materia medica are most useful to that patient, and which are likely the most problematic in facilitating their return to health.