As a child you may have heard your parents yell out, “Don’t poke your tongue out, its rude”.
This is true, your parents were right; well until you visit a Chinese Medicine practitioner.
One tool we (Chinese Medicine practitioners) use to understand how the body has manifested symptoms or disease states, is through tongue diagnosis. I’m sure you have heard the eyes are the window to your soul; well your tongue is a window to your health.
So what does this all mean? First let’s understand which organ systems are represented on the tongue.
| Tongue Section | Organ Represented on the Tongue | Meaning |
| Tip | Heart | poor nights sleep, heart palpitations, anxiety |
| Front | Lung | Respiratory Issues |
| Middle | Digestive System | Poor Digestive Function |
| Back | Kidney/Bladder | Urinary issues, Lower Back Pain, Dizziness, Feeling Cold or Hot and so many more |
| Sides | Liver / Gall Bladder | Liver Qi Stagnation |
| Tongue Appearance | Manifestation In the Body |
| Teeth marks | Poor Digestive function leads to an enlarged tongue |
| Coating: White Yellow Map/Geographic | Phlegm in the body Phlegm and inflammation in the body Depletion of Yin |
| Body: Pale Red Cracks | Blood Deficiency/ Malnutrition – commonly seen in people with Chronic Diseases Body Fluids are depleted causing the coating of the tongue to reduce until very little coating is left Body Fluids are depleted causing the tongue to crack |
| Spots | Inflammation in the body that has enlarged the taste buds |
| Congested Vessels Under the tongue | Blood Stagnation in the body |
*Please note this is information of a general nature and a true diagnosis can only be attained after being assessed by a qualified health care practitioner. This is a simplistic way at looking at tongue diagnosis, and even a qualified practitioner will take the information gathered in a consultation to diagnose and treat a person’s disease or syndrome. However, this is helpful to understand that your tongue is accurately telling you something is wrong.
It is important to mention that scraping your tongue is perfectly fine, however many people do this when they have a really thick coating on the tongue. This clearly is identifying a problem in your health that you could look at attending to.
Remember, disease doesn’t manifest over night. It usually takes many years before this happens, and along the way your body is trying to bring your attention to something that needs your attention. Always listen to your body; it’s there to help you, not annoy you.
