Imagine visiting a doctor who needs to run a battery of tests – but instead, they check your pulse and tell you exactly what’s going on in your body, including the root cause of any illness. Sounds amazing, right? Now, what if that same doctor could even predict future health issues based on your genetic makeup? This is precisely what happens when you consult with an Ayurvedic doctor (Vaidya) skilled in Nadi Parikshan.
Ayurveda is a 3000-year-old medical science. First written down in the Samhitas (Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, etc.), the knowledge has been transferred for generations through the preachings by Vaidyas and Rishis. Unfortunately, some of this knowledge is lost or ignored due to a lack of evidence in Ayurvedic science and the rise of modern medicine. One such skill being lost is the Nadi Parikshan, which is used in the diagnosis of diseases.
Nadi Parikshan is the most important diagnostic method of the Ashtavidha Pariksha (eight-fold examination – examination of the pulse, urine, stool, tongue, voice, touch, eyes and general appearance). It is based on a simple logic – everything we do (eat, sleep, exercise, get emotional/angry, etc.) has an impact on our heart, and the pulse is the expression of our heart. The pulse is measured in rate (beats per minute), rhythm (regularity of beats), volume (strength of pulse), and amplitude (height of the pulse).
Based on the characteristics of the pulse, Ayurvedic doctors are able to determine Dosha (Vata, Pitta, Kapha) imbalance which helps them understand which system of the body is affected (nervous, metabolic, structural, etc.). A further deep dive into pulse diagnosis helps the doctors identify the tissues (dhatus) and organs (srotas) affected. For e.g. a rapidpulse may indicate Pitta aggravation – possibly leading to inflammation, hyperacidity or liver issues. An irregular pulse may be a Vata disturbance – often seen in nervous disorders or digestive weakness. Ayurvedic doctors can also pick up signs of emotional and mental health issues (anxiety, grief, or anger) influencing physical health.
Traditionally, Ayurvedic doctors have measured the pulse by feeling the arteries with three fingers (index, middle and ring) and correlating the pattern with a vikruti (disease). In today’s world, there have been innovative devices which can capture the pulse parameters through sensors or IPG. Some examples of these devices are Nadi Taringini, VedaPulse, Nadi Pulse, Ayurhythm, etc. These devices have been successful in capturing the pulse and providing an analysis of overall health (tri-dosha analysis) with up to 85% accuracy.
However, all these devices have limitations in accurately identifying the diseases the patient might have. Research is ongoing to develop this capability. Pulse readings of multiple patients at different points of time in the day should be captured to form clusters. These clusters will then be correlated with corresponding disease pulse readings.
It will take millions of data points and artificial intelligence engines to read all the data points and form correlations or empirical formulas. Though it will take longer (probably >5 years) to develop the initial disease diagnosis, further identification of other diseases will be faster as the AI engine will self-learn to correlate the clusters. Eventually, we will be able to see a device which can measure the pulse and diagnose the disease with decent accuracy. And that will be a boon to the entire Ayurvedic industry.
