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The nature of the changing pulse is an area of exploration that is poorly addressed in standard pulse diagnosis texts. There are a number of factors that cause a changing pulse or the perception thereof.
Patient
Touching tai yuan (lu9) over time will change the pulse as it is a meeting point of the vessels, stream point and source point for the lung. These influences are non-trivial.
If the patient has qi depletion, the holding power of the qi is diminished and there is lower stability in the expression of the qualities. This is especially true if the wei qi is weak.
Stability is also a feature of the shen. A changeable shen will cause the pulse to change (depletion of jing or qi may cause instability of shen).
Practitioner
Another factor that contributes significantly to poor interater reliability is technique. If one practitioner presses to the surface of the vessel, they are more likely to feel a wiry pulse while if the practitioner presses into the bloodstream, they are more likely to feel a slippery pulse.
There is a risk that this beginner's experience will generate decisions about the value of pulse diagnosis that skew further investigation. In my opinion, there is value in this inquiry and it is important for the learner to understand the reasons for the events that are occuring.
These are just a few ideas, I would like to hear about other ideas on these matters.
Will Morris
Then I come back and yes , the pulse is no longer bowstring and all the pulses have changed dramatically in a space of 15 minutes. Now, these students are not practising any kind of qi gong , massage or anything to influence the status of health of the patient. I know many acupuncture practitoners go by the rule that the pulses must change during the needling in order to acertain that the treatment is doing something.
I have suspected that even the intent of an acupuncture practitoner could influence the pulse but what has happened here at college has ruled that out.
Do pulses just change with the ebb and flow of the day even after after 15 minutes? Are some acupuncture practitoners just concluding the wrong things because the pulses have changed during a treatment? Does just touching someone change the pulse?
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