Pulse diagnosis



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. The practitioner should develop an instinct or "feel" for detecting these. However, practitioners using pulse diagnosis have low inter-rater reliability. In TCM, pulse diagnosis should happen before sunrise because the yin and yang are apparently in balance then. 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.