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Tongue diagnosis in TCM
Can you give me any advice regarding a heavily coated tongue? I use a tongue scraper and, on my doctor’s advice, a mouthwash but without much noticeable improvement.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), diagnosis always starts with the tongue. A pink, fleshy tongue is a sign of glowing good health, a thin, moist white coating is normal but a thick coating is interpreted, in this system of healing, as a sign of underlying health problems.
To TCM practitioners, different parts of the tongue also represent different systems in the body. The middle, for example, represents the stomach and the spleen. The back of the tongue links to the health of the kidneys, bladder and gut.
Angela Hick is the joint principal of one of Europe’s leading TCM training colleges, The Integrated College of Chinese Medicine in Reading. She is the author of ’a number of excellent books explaining to Westerners just how tongue reading works and why a 4000-year-old system of traditional medicine is still relevant in our lives. She says: “The tongue is one of the few ways to the inside of the body and reflects what is going on inside. It’s the only internal organ that you can see on the outside and so to a Chinese physician, it acts like an x-ray of the patient.”
A heavy tongue coating may also be a sign of an overburdened liver. There are many herbal remedies that can help clear and support the liver through a detoxification. One of the most effective is burdock, which has anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties and which was traditionally used as a blood purifier and liver cleanser.
*To find a qualified TCM practitioner, contact The Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine on 07000-790332.To learn more about training in this field, The College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in Reading is on 0118-950 8880. Nature's Way Burdock Root costs £12.99 for 100 capsules. Mail order from the NutriCentre on 0800-587 2290 and take two tablets, three times a day.