The way of Chinese herbalist diagnose patient is under a guideline of herbology, and the main methods include pulse reading, tongue reading, questioning, hearing, smelling, and visual diagnosis. We refer to this as the five principles of Chinese diagnosis.

The most important aspect of the diagnosis involves the herbalist finger on the patient’s wrist. The herbalist examines the general beat of the radial artery in terms of its strength, speed, nature, depth, firmness, etc. These are characterized as strong, weak, superficial, sunken, fast, slow, taut or loose. There are 6 positions specify assign to heart, liver, spleen, lung, and two kidneys meridians. There are three positions and there are three depths on each position. All together, they total nine places with valuable diagnostic information on each wrist. There are twenty-eight qualities of pulse which a practitioner must be alert for. Different combinations of pulses also have diagnostic significance. Certainly the skill of a physician who can tell a patient’s lifetime medical history from pulse-reading is not a true story. But pulse-reading skill varies like skill with a musical instrument. Just like a musician to master the myth, a practitioner need years in apprenticeship, but not from study of a few books, in order to make productive in use of pulse-reading. There are 8 type pulse considered fundamental, and they interpret a specific element of herbology’s diagnosis system. For example, ‘wiry’ pulse indicated a pain situating and usually point to liver meridian problems. ‘Floating’ pulse may be interpreted as a cold and usually points to lung meridian problems.

Tongue reading is one diagnosis method a herbalist would not miss. The tongue body and tongue’s coating sends a clear massage of our body’s activity. For example, the yellow coating in the center of the tongue means a toxic building up in spleen meridian, a reddish tip of the toque means a heat factor is shown on the heart meridian.

The next thing a Chinese herbalist will do is observe the patient and note anything about his or her physical appearance that may be of significance. We observe patient’s face color, the condition of their hair, nails, posture. Hearing the patient’s voice or breathing can be helpful: a loud, penetrating voice tends to suggest an strong central qi, whereas a sluggish voice is more indicative of a deficient condition. The smelling method may be obtain by patient’s own observation. If the urine and stone are foul-smelling, this indicates the presence of accumulation of toxins.

The last method is questioning. Questioning is important to reconfirm your diagnosis and the process of analyzing data. Occasionally, a patient’s complaints may not be informative enough. Their own history, as well as their family’s, is needed in order to make a connection to the pulse and tongue reading method.