Stick Out Your Tongue - And Heal

Traditional Medicine: Chinese system diagnoses using a "map"

EDMONTON — Stick out your tongue. It's one of the first things a medical doctor tells a patient with a sore throat to help make a diagnosis.

Doctors trained in Chinese medicine ask the same thing of their patients - but besides a sore throat, they say they can diagnose heart disease, cancer, stomach problems and psychological problems, among other things just by examining the tongue.

In traditional Chinese medicine, the tongue is a map that corresponds to different parts of the body. The tip is connected to the heart; the sides are connected to the liver; the centre to the spleen and the back to the kidney.

The tongue's colour, shape, texture and coating reveal the state of a person's health. A healthy tongue is pink, moist and with a clear or light white coat.

Tongue diagnosing dates back to 1600 BC and is the main diagnostic tool of acupuncturists and herbalists, says Dr. Stevenson Xutian, who is both. Xutian, a visiting professor at the University of Alberta, arranged for Chinese medical clinic director Dr. Zhi Chen Guo to conduct a workshop in Edmonton.

More than 50 years ago, Guo, who has been running the clinic in Shijiazhuang since the age of 16, tweaked traditional Chinese medicine with modern scientific methods and kicked up the effectiveness of tongue diagnosis to detect difficult and incurable diseases in early stages.

He does this by picking up on blockages in the body's physical life force known as the qi, men using Chinese herbs and massage therapy to get things flowing again to restore balance.

Fay Lucy, a woman who has had health problems for a long time, attended one of Guo's workshops during his recent visit.

Guo examined Lucy's tongue for about 15 seconds in front of a roomful of people and, speaking through an interpreter, said its condition indicated some kind of blockage or congestion in the right back side of her body pointing to possible kidney problems or problems with the circulation in one of her legs. He then prescribed a combination of Chinese herbs.

Lucy says she hopes the information will help her be healthier at the age of 70 than she is now.

As for Guo, he says his diagnoses are 90 per cent accurate.

Article Source:

Chris Zdeb - Canwest News Service

For more information on how Acupuncture and TCM can improve your health & wellness,
contact Dr. Hardman by email
wellness@hardmanacupuncture-tcm.com
or by telephone 604-524-6855.

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