Background: Measuring carotid and radial pulses as a diagnostic method plays a vital role in sphygmology applied via traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In particular, many TCM theories and doctors have indicated that the pulse force ratio is closely correlated with human physiological conditions, such as weight and body temperature. However, few studies have explored these potential correlations. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the pulse strength ratio and human metabolism indicators.
Methods: The carotid and radial relative artery blood flow velocity (RABFV) and pulse force from 122 normal adults were examined by ultrasound and manual palpation by a doctor, and the same group was tested via a thermal texture map (TTM).
Results: Obvious differences in the body side and sex were not observed in the ratio of carotid and radial RABFV among normal individuals (p>0.05). However, the ratio of young people was greater than that of old people (p<0.001), and strong support was obtained for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) assumptions of seasonal differences in the ratio (p<0.001). Furthermore, we discovered that the ratio had a negative correlation with BMI and torso temperature but a positive correlation with hand temperature.
Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that the ratio of carotid and radial RABFV could serve as an indicator of human physical conditions, such as BMI and human temperature, and represents a valuable tool for evaluating yin-yang properties in TCM clinical practice. The close correlations reported above verified some theories of TCM and provided strong support for sphygmology in TCM.