thank you will,

you da man


dan

William Morris <wmorris33@...> wrote:

Hi Dan -

A distortion in the trajectory of the radial artery has a number of possible interpretations. A question at this point could be, which paradigmatic view is appropriate for the problem at hand? I call this a metaparadigmatic view. Such a perspective requires knowledge of pertinent interpretations of the phenomena. In this case, we will consider the distortion in the radial aspect of the pulse in the right distal-1st-cun position.

A radial distortion in the right distal position has three possible interpretations that are discussed in what I call the Neoclassical tradition. Neoclassical pulse diagnosis involves in part, a reconstruction that I have made of the works from Wang Shu He and the Su Wen Chapter Four. The publication of these interpretations of the literature are available at www.pulsediagnosis.com and the original publications may be found at acupuncturetoday.com. The Menghe-Ding tradition as communicated by Shen and Hammer have no published interpretation for radial distortions in the right distal position.

Repeating Korzybky's message, the map is not the territory. The starting point for pulse diagnosis is when the clinician draws distinctions in order to direct the clinical gaze. The core knowledges of Chinese medicine involve pattern discrimination. As a pattern begins to emerge, then certain pulse models may be selected in order to investigate the processes and systems that are making themselves apparent during the course of clinical inquiry. This is a practical approach for a busy clinician. However, collecting and analyzing all available pulse information is possible and can be useful, especially in complex case scenarios. 

Radial Distortion of the Right Distal Position

Radial distortions in the right distal position may be interpreted as tai yang, metal imbalance or a yang wei mai. If the pulse in the right distal position extends in the radial region, one must rule out stagnation of qi and blood in the sinews of the tai yang urinary bladder by palpating the channel or inquiring as to muscoluoskeletal symptoms along the trajectories of both the arm and leg tai yang. Rule out yang wei by examination of the proximal pulse position, look for an ulnar displacement there. The metal imbalance within fire can be ruled out by therapy, if one opens the tai yang and there is no change, check the metal point on either the lung or large intestine vessels (Lu11, LI1).

Repletion-Depletion                                                                                                                                                             &nb sp;                                 As for repletion and depletion in the six vessels, this is another interesting conversation. The distortions in the radial artery often provide insufficient information to determine repletion and depletion status. However, if they do, then great. But, caution, such a reductionist consideration can fail to capture the nuances of human reality.

Like you, I prefer to palpate the channels. In fact many times there are both repletions and depletions in chronic conditions. This is not merely true for the five agents, but the zang fu, the channels: and curiously enough, within points. Therefore one may use a supplementing method in one area of the channel and disperse another. Further, one may supplement at one depth of a point and disperse a another.

In Summary
The presence of a radial distortion does not usually provide data about repletion and depletion. Further, the complexities and paradoxes of life usually present with both depletion and repletion. Treat what you palpate.
 
Will

On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 4:04 PM, dan johnson <flyfunktionable@...> wrote:

when feeling the pulse, its trajectory should be contained within the intended pathway of the vessel through the cun, gun, and chi.  if the vessel extends radially or ulnarly from those positions it may be indicative of a six channel pathology.

once this pathology is noted is the next step to determine whether the channel involved is in the state of excess or deficient?  for example, if feeling the right cun position,  if the pulse is felt to extend towards the radial border, we then assign that sensation the name of tai yang.  does the assigned meaning to this correlate to either excess or deficiency, or does it simply reveal meridian compensation (as in the manifestation of extra vessel pulses)

if the assigned meaning is to ascribe vessel compensation, i would then think that manual or energetic palpation of the indicated meridian along with further derived diagnositic information would lead to conclusion of either excess or deficiency within the meridian.  

continuing this thought, assuming prior thoughts are correct, with pulses indicating multiple vessel involvement, interesting patterns could be reveals between compensated vessels according to bie jing, biao li and chinese clock relationships.


Would anyone care to offer feedback, additions,and or corrections to my understanding???

forever growing,


Daniel Johnson

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Warmly,

Will


William R. Morris, DAOM, MSEd, LAc
http://theccrt.com/
http://www.aoma.edu/
http://www.pulsediagnosis.com/

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