Health Assessment

We use the following combination, or one method alone, to assess your health and to discover the missing pieces (dysfunction or imbalance) to your ongoing health and well-being:

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Diagnosis:

TCM has been the main diagnostic method in China over the last 5000 years. It is based on methods and principles very different to that of Western medicine. Instead of using expensive pathology tests and imaging, TCM relies on the experience and expertise of the practitioner.

The Chinese medicine practitioners can make an Chinese medicine diagnosis through a combination of the following:

1. Observation – such as tongue, (TCM views the tongue as a mirror to the body, reflecting health status), complexion, eyes, nails, level of vitality, physical appearance, openness and emotional demeanor etc.
2. Auscultation-olfaction (listen and smell) – such as listening to the cough, smelling the phlegm, body odour etc.
3. Interview – symptoms and past history such as chills or fever, sweats, appetite, sleep, urination, defecation, primary and secondary complaints etc.
4. Palpation – such as pulse, abdomen etc.

Pulse:

Checking the pulse on the wrist is one of the most important TCM diagnostic methods. There are 28 different types of pulses to detect: strong or weak, shallow or deep, fast or slow, empty or full, wiry or slippery etc. Each different pulse points to different conditions, unlike western medicine where medical doctors check pulses only for the rate, strength and regularity.

Through the above methods TCM will assess:

• Qi (vital energy) and blood status such as Qi deficiency, stagnation or blockage
• high or low function of organs such as that lungs, heart, liver, spleen, kidney etc.
• balance of the immune system
• balance of hormones such as high or low function of thyroid, adrenals etc.
• the nature of your condition: hot or cold, dry or damp, external or internal, excessive or deficient and the balance of Yin (-) and Yang (+) etc.
• body toxicity or inflammation.