22 July 2014 What can Influence the Tongue....? There are quite a few things that can influence the tongue. When the patient sticks out the tongue, the tongue should be relaxed. Tension in the tongue can change the colour of the tongue. Otherwise, the lighting of the room, diet, medications, seasons, time of day, age, constitution, gender, complexion, hobbies and habits (smoking and drinking) can all change the tongue and tongue coating and should be taken into consideration. What does a Normal Tongue Look Like...? Generally, the tongue is medium sized, pink, has form, moves freely, and has a thin, white tongue coating. Tongue Chart Explanation TONGUE BODY Attribute Characteristic Indication Abnormality Spirit Vitality of the tongue Zang, Fu, Qi, Blood, Body Fluids Flourishing: Bright with energetic movement and moist indicates good Stomach Qi Withering: Dark and dry tongue with sluggish movement indicates exhausted Stomach Qi Colour Reflects true condition of body Thermal nature of the disease More Red: Blood overfills tongue, more heat Less Red: Qi and blood are insufficient, less heat, more deficiency TextureTough or tender Reflects excess or deficiency Rough: Exuberant antipathogenic Qi and muscle fibers bulge Tender: Qi and Blood are deficient and cannot fill fibers; Yang deficiency cannot transform body fluids and cold-damp accumulates Size Large or Small Often reflects constitution Large: Overfilling of Blood, damp accumulation Small: lack of nutrition due to Qi, Blood and Body Fluid Deficiency Surface Moist, smooth Body Fluids, heat, stasis Cracks: Malnourishment of Qi, Blood and Body Fluids due to heat or dampness obstructing Prickles: Heat pushes Qi and Blood up where they overfill the tongue causing papillae to thrust out Flexibility. How the tongue moves Condition of muscles and sinews Stiff: Lack of nourishment due to internal organ deficiency or phlegm/Blood stasis obstructing Qi and Blood resulting in stiffening of the tongue Limp: Sinews lack nourishment of Qi, Blood and Body Fluids and do not have the strength to move Movement Abnormal movement Pathogens or deficiency Spasm due to internal wind, usually due to hyperactive Liver, internal heat or malnutrition. Can be trembling, deviated or protruding. Length: How long the tongue is Pathogens or Internal Organs Short: Excessive cold causes contraction and spasm; malnutrition causes phlegm to stagnate and obstruct; heat injures Body Fluids; Qi and Blood deficiency due to Spleen and Kidney failure Long: excess pathogenic heat consumes Qi, Blood and Body Fluids; internal organ failure resulting in the tongue being unable to contract Tongue explenation 2 TONGUE COATING AttributeIndicationsAbnormality ColourPathogenic factors White: Exterior or cold patterns; targets Lung and Large Intestine Yellow: Interior or heat patterns; targets Spleen and Stomach Gray: Interior, heat or cold-damp patterns Black: Interior, extreme heat or extreme cold patterns Thickness Antipathogenic Qi or depth of disease Thin: Impaired Spleen or Stomach cannot evaporate and transform dampness; Kidney and Stomach Yin deficiency cannot send up Body Fluids or damp turbidity is sent up. Thick: Spleen and Stomach are stagnated by food or phlegm damp and turbid damp steam rises Moisture Condition of Body Fluids Dry: Excessive pathogenic heat injures Body Fluids; internal organ dysfunction leads to Yin deficiency Wet: Water damp attacks body due to Spleen or Kidney Yang deficiency cannot transform Body Fluids Stickiness Distinguishes pathogenic factors, fluid metabolism Damp, phlegm, water or food stagnates and accumulates and the Stomach Qi produces excess turbidity that steams upwards Distribution Location and depth of disease Even: Widespread pathogen, dampness obstructs middle jiao Uneven: Certain body parts or organs are affected, there will be uneven distribution Peeling State of Stomach Qi & Yin Deficient Stomach Qi or Yin results in exuberant rising of turbid dampness or Stomach Yang, burning fluids. Rooting Pathogen severity, condition of Stomach Qi & antipathogens Rooted: sufficient Stomach Qi that is attached to tongue tightly, difficult to scrape off Unrooted: Insufficient Stomach Qi due to Qi deficiency in the Stomach or Kidney The tongue is a very vascular muscle with very sensitive papillae that easily change with changing internal conditions. Examining the tongue is a great way to see the functioning of the internal workings of the body. As with the blog on the pulse, this is a very basic overview of the tongue and its pathologies.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 11:54:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015