What is the meaning of looking, smelling, asking and feeling in traditional Chinese medicine?

Looking, smelling, asking and feeling are the four basic methods of TCM diagnosis of diseases, which are referred to as "four diagnoses" for short.

Observing the changes of the patient's whole body and local look and shape with vision is called observation; It belongs to odor diagnosis to distinguish the changes of patients' voice and gas through hearing and smell; Understanding the process of disease occurrence and development, current symptoms and the situation related to the disease is called consultation; Feeling the patient's pulse and touching the patient's abdomen, hands and feet is called pulse diagnosis.

Extended data:

Seeing, listening and asking were invented by Bian Que, and Bian Que was good at using four diagnostic methods, especially pulse and inspection, to diagnose diseases. Biography of Historical Records of Cang Gong recorded two medical records related to him: one was to diagnose Zhao Zijian's disease by pulse diagnosis, and the other was to diagnose Qi Huanhou's disease by inquiry.

Bian Que is not only good at pulse diagnosis and observation, but also good at using acupuncture, massage, ironing, stone removal, surgery and decoction to treat various diseases. It can be said that Bian Que laid the foundation of traditional medical diagnostics in China. He summed up predecessors' and folk experiences all his life, combined with his own medical practice, and made outstanding contributions to Chinese medicine in diagnosis, pathology and treatment.

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