The Tale The Tongue Tells
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and acupuncture assess a person’s health in ways that are different than those of Western medicine. One of the most obvious aspects of this difference is the practitioner’s assessment of your tongue. Most of us have only had our tongue involved in a visit to the doctor when they ask us to stick out our tongue so they can look past it and down our throat!
To your acupuncturist, the tongue is a repository of information about the overall health of your body. The tongue reflects changes in your health, telling the story of what is taking place now, offering insight into your hydration, the quality of your digestion, the level of blood circulation and vital information about your organ systems. But, the practitioner is mostly assessing the history of your overall health from the appearance of your tongue as it holds onto visible aspects of what has occurred in your body over the past months and years of your life.
What We See and What It Means
Diagnosing your health by assessing your tongue helps your practitioner understand not only your current state of health, but what health issues may have contributed to any current complaints and imbalances.
When you visit the Acupuncture by Andrea clinic and I ask you to stick out your tongue, I will be looking at the following characteristics:
Tongue Color
The color of the tongue can indicate the internal temperature of the body, corresponding to circulation from the liver, the heart and the digestive system.
A red tongue can indicate excessive heat in the body that accompanies conditions caused by liver qi stagnation, where emotional aspects have interrupted the smooth flow of qi (energy movement) with symptoms including inflammation, fever, irritability, night sweats and insomnia, ear ringing and stiff joints.
A pale tongue shows there is cold in the body from conditions such as hypothyroidism, blood deficiency from excess blood loss or lack of blood building foods, with symptoms including fatigue, anemia, heart palpitations, poor memory, and shortness of breath.
A dark purple tongue indicates poor blood circulation related to the liver and heart, often accompanying migraine, arthritis and constipation, with symptoms including body aches, short temper and feelings of frustration.
Tongue Shape
Tongues are naturally quite varied in appearance. Some are shorter or longer, some are thin, some are pointed. However, there are common health indicators throughout tongue shapes. A tongue that appears swollen or puffy usually indicates excess fluid in the body, where warmth or qi is unable to push it out. A tongue with curled up edge is an indication of your hydration level. Any cracks help to diagnosis heat and dryness in different organ systems.
A long crack running from the base to the tip of the tongue indicates heart involvement, while a deep crack in the middle of the tongue tells us the stomach and digestive system need to be investigated and small crisscrossing cracks all over the tongue speak to long term kidney qi issues.
A small or thin tongue is an indication of qi deficiency and blood probably accompanied by complaints of dizziness and fatigue.
A swollen tongue is an indicator of digestive problems due to dampness and spleen deficiency.
Texture and Coating of the Tongue
The top or coating of the tongue gives us an indication of digestive issues and what the patient may be eating. A normal, healthy tongue has a thin white coating on the surface. If that coating changes in color or thickness, a diagnosis can follow.
Lack of coating or a patchy coat indicates long term deficiencies or overworked adrenals.
A yellow coating shows that dampness-heat phlegm is present. This may be seen in patients with heat in the lower organs, like the intestines or the bladder.
A white coating indicates dampness-cold phlegm. This may be seen in patients with long term overuse of pharmaceutical medications.
If there is no coating on the tongue, it is actually an indication of an issue, not of optimal health. The deficiency of yin energy in which one may experience night sweats would be indicated along with digestive weakness. The stomach should always be moist and cool and the spleen should always be more dry and warm. Issues here indicate what type of digestive problems have been occurring.
Areas of the Tongue and Corresponding Organ Systems
The tongue is associated with the internal organs of the body and their meridians. These meridian pathways coincide with the overall health of the organ system they correspond with. On the tongue, different areas reflect the health of corresponding organ systems: kidney/bladder, large and small intestine, spleen/stomach, lung , heart and liver/gallbladder.
The back of the tongue corresponds with the kidney, bladder, and large and small intestine. The health of this area of your tongue may indicate prostatitis, cystitis or urinary tract issues.
The left and right side of the tongue correspond with the liver and the gallbladder Here we look for divets, scallops or bite marks which indicate frustration, stagnation and lack of movement in the costal or mid-thoracic region.
The center of the tongue corresponds with the stomach and the spleen. Long term digestive weakness can show up as a deep hole in the center of the tongue, indicating issues with the breakdown and distribution of nutrients.
The tip of the tongue corresponds with the lung and heart. If red, we see heat in the heart, indicating some lack of blood movement and lack of movement in the small intestines, the heart’s partner organ. The heat can show up as canker sores and painful distended taste buds.
Post-treatment tongue health
Diagnosing your health and wellness through a tongue assessment is a standard part of a visit to an acupuncture practitioner. The story of your health is told through all the parts of your body, and your tongue will help to reveal what is going on inside.
The tongue is also an effective way to evaluate treatment. After you receive a treatment and perhaps begin to take herbal medications, you will start to feel better. As you begin to heal, the imbalances seen in your tongue will be relieved. In conditions where progress may be difficult to see, this is a helpful tool in understanding the efficacy of your treatment.
