Slippery Pulse

Slippery Pulse

It feels smooth, round and rolling, "like a pea rolling under your fingers". Authors describe it as having a lubricated, oily sensation. It is also called the slippery pulse.

It is a full-type pulse, but this is Yang (excess) within Yin (fluids, dampness).


Indicates accumulation and growth:

  • It can be a healthy pulse in young people and pregnant women.
  • As a pathological pulse it indicates accumulation of phlegm, dampness, food accumulation, mucus or damp-heat.
  • It may appear rapid: an apparent excess of Yang, but underneath there is a lack of Yang. An accumulation (of food, phlegm, dampness, toxins) produces heat (yang). But this accumulation occurs due to a lack of vital energy (insufficient yang to properly transform and eliminate what accumulates).
  • In winter or during old age it may indicate the formation of masses. It is the time of gathering of Yang after its maximum expansion.


Note: In pregnant women it is possible to determine whether the baby is a boy or girl according to the pulse:

  • Stronger on the left hand than the right indicates a boy.
  • Stronger on the right hand indicates a girl.

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Page updated on July 22, 2021

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