Pulse diagnosis is a subtle yet highly effective instrument used in Chinese medicine for the diagnosis and prevention of disease. The method set forth in this book is unsurpassed in obtaining the greatest amount of physical and psychological information about an individual. Although based on traditional methods, it is contemporary because it recognizes that pulse diagnosis must continue to develop over time. In the hands of master pulse diagnostician Dr. John Shen, his apprentice Dr. Leon Hammer, and their students, it has evolved in recent decades to better reflect modern times and lifestyles. This handbook summarizes the key elements of Chinese Pulse Diagnosis: A Contemporary Approach in a portable edition. It is the result of the very hard work, by many practitioners, of extracting the essentials from each area of this subject. The present volume offers a clear and practical path toward a better understanding of traditional pulse diagnosis, while recasting its interpretation in the context of our own times. The book is organized in eighteen chapters. The early chapters consider such general issues as terminology, classification of pulse qualities, historical comparisons of positions and depths, and a methodology for taking the pulse. The middle chapters provide an in-depth look at each of the individual pulse qualities, identified by felt sensation based on such characteristics as rate and rhythm, stability, volume, depth, size, and shape. The types of pathology associated with each of the qualities are also discussed. Later chapters examine the significance of the qualities when found across the entire pulse, or large segments of the pulse, and at different depths. The relationship of the pulse qualities to psychology and prognosis are addressed in separate chapters. The final chapters on interpretation and case histories draw everything together to show how this information can be formulated into a rational diagnosis. Key information in the book is organized and richly illustrated in over a hundred tables and graphic drawings. There is also a glossary of special terms, bibliography, and full index to the contents.

Paradigm Publications brings the medicine and healing of the Oriental tradition to English-speaking readers. Our work is based on the premise that the West will successfully absorb Oriental traditional healing arts only by honoring the respect for language, tradition, and nature on which they were founded. Seeking to accurately transmit an Asian expertise that is rooted in bedside skills and highly trained sensory observations, our books for clinical professionals are produced by cooperative teams of Asian and Western clinical experts, scholars, and linguists. By adhering to voluntary, multi-author, multi-publisher standards, these works become part of a valuable library that is not limited by the interests of any one author or publisher. Based on similar principles, our books for discriminating readers offer the simple utility people need to apply these arts to their lives.The only English language ed. of the 16th-c. classic available.

Examination of the tongue, like the pulse, is one of the principal diagnostic methods in traditional Chinese medicine. This book--newly revised in 1995--systematically describes each of the primary characteristics of the tongue (body color, shape and coating) and their significance in the clinic. It traces the historical development of tongue diagnosis and its relationship to externally- contracted disorders and the eight principals. Featured in this revised edition are 59 color plates and accompanying case histories from the author's own practice. Other aspects of tongue diagnosis newly described in this edition include the integration of tongue and pulse diagnosis; the use of the tongue in diagnosing emotional problems; tongue diagnosis and herbal treatment; the tongue in prognosis; and special considerations regarding tongue diagnosis in children.

As a traditional healing art that has established a contemporary global presence, Chinese medicine defies categories and raises many interesting questions. If Chinese medicine is "traditional," why has it not disappeared with the rest of traditional Chinese society? If, as some claim, it is a science, what does that imply about what we call science? What is the secret of Chinese medicine's remarkable adaptability that has allowed it to prosper for more than 2,000 years? In Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China Volker Scheid presents an ethnography of Chinese medicine that seeks to answer these questions, but his ethnography is informed by some atypical approaches. Scheid, a medical anthropologist and practitioner of Chinese medicine in practice since 1983, has produced an ethnography that accepts plurality as an intrinsic and nonreducible aspect of medical practice. It has been widely noted that a patient visiting ten different practitioners of Chinese medicine may receive ten different prescriptions for the same complaint, yet many of these various treatments may be effective. In attempting to illuminate the plurality in Chinese medical practice, Scheid redefines-and in some cases abandons-traditional anthropological concepts such as tradition, culture, and practice in favor of approaches from disciplines such as science and technology studies, social psychology, and Chinese philosophy. As a result, his book sheds light not only on Chinese medicine but also on the Western academic traditions used to examine it and presents us with new perspectives from which to deliberate the future of Chinese medicine in a global context. Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China is the product of two decades of research including numerous interviews and case studies. It will appeal to a western academic audience as well as practitioners of Chinese medicine and other interested medical professionals, including those from western biomedicine.