The process of pulse diagnosis was examined in a
sample of 100 patients randomly selected from the
author's acupuncture clinic. Patient symptoms,
pulses (as utilised in traditional Chinese
medicine), diagnostic criteria (as described in
traditional Chinese medicine), acupuncture points
selected and patient comments after each treatment
were coded into a numerical format suitable for
stepwise multiple regression and crosstabulation
analysis.
The analysis indicated that the interpretation of
pulse qualities predicted the diagnostic criteria
when used in accordance with the theories of
acupuncture. The selection of acupuncture points
could not be predicted from the diagnostic
criteria when using pulse diagnosis. Additionally
the analysis indicated that the patient comments
after acupuncture were independent of the initial
patient symptoms.
More research is needed to more fully understand
the process of pulse diagnosis. However the
analysis does suggest that pulse diagnosis should
be incorporated into acupuncture curricula in both
traditional acupuncture courses and medical
acupuncture courses.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219350 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Smith, Andrew, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Andrew Smith |
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