In the view of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), inferring the Internal Changes from External Observation is one of the significant concepts. This concept can show the relationship of internal organs with physiological and pathological phenomenon. According to the Huangdi’s Internal Classic, internal organs that allow the formation and storage essence and “qi” will manifest themselves on the external part. Hence, if there are some abnormal changes of the internal organs, we can know the changes through the external part of body. There are four diagnosis methods to infer the changes from external observation, including inspection, listening and smelling, inquiry and palpation. This essay will address these four diagnosis methods and give some …show more content…
When there is abnormal change in skin color, it may reflect the emergence of diseases. A radiant complexion shows that the person has plenty of “qi” and blood. Otherwise, the skin color would be dull. Moreover, the five colors, which are red, white, green, yellow and black, can represent the diseases of different organs and the nature of different diseases. The red color is mainly found in heat syndrome. For example, reddened face and eyes with no feeling of heat may reflect liver fire flaring up. The white color represents the insufficient “yang qi” and blood. This color can usually be found in the people with anemia and hemorrhage. The green color is correlated with the symptoms of cold and pain. The yellow color may imply the weakness of spleen and deficiency of blood while the black color may mean the failure of kidney to hold “qi”. Thirdly, general appearance is another indicator for inspection of the entire body. Through observing the general appearance of people, we can know whether the vigor is adequate and also the strength of the physique. A normal and healthy body should have strong muscles, rapid and natural movement etc. The features of a pathological body may include being short, too fat or thin, difficult bending of arms and legs, shivering of limbs and numbness of fingers and so on. The next paragraph will discuss the inspection of tongue, urine and