What Does the Tongue Say About Your Health?

In my practice, along with a full interview and medical assessment, tongue diagnosis is one of the main tools I use to understand my patients’ state of health. Most patients are embarrassed to stick out their tongues or they wonder what I am doing staring it. So I am going to educate you on what I look for by observing the tongue and how the tongue is used as a gateway to your health. Tongue diagnosis has been used for thousands of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine. In TCM, the tongue is known as an internal organ that you can see from the outside. Therefore, it is a great diagnostic tool to understand the health of the internal organs as well as the overall health of the human body. In Chinese Medicine, the tongue is divided into different organ systems. Geographically, the center of the tongue is the digestive system or spleen and stomach region. The back of the tongue is the reproductive system or kidney region. The sides of the tongue are the liver and gallbladder region and the upper region and tip of the tongue are the lung and heart organ systems. In observing the tongue, the first thing I look at is the shape. There are many different shapes that indicate different symptoms. To name a few, a quivering tongue can mean energy deficiency of the spleen or digestive system. A hammer shape tongue can indicate emotional disorders and an enlarged tongue may indicate digestive system issues. The size of the tongue can indicate if there is a deficiency in blood or fluids in the body, which can be seen in insomnia, anxiety, and headaches. The color of the tongue indicates if there is heat, a deficiency of yang, or stasis and stagnation in the body, which can indicate pain, menstrual cramps or irritability. The coat of the tongue tells about the fluid physiology of the body. A thin coat or lack of coat can suggest a lack of fluids in the body, as seen in insomnia, anxiety, and menopause. A thick coat can be seen in such disorders as depression, ovarian cysts, fatigue, fibromyalgia and headaches. Cracks in the tongue can indicate dryness or blood deficiency. Disorders seen with a cracked tongue are skin or vaginal dryness, shortened menstrual flow, poor memory, insomnia and PMS. Scallops, which are crevices on the sides of the tongue, can indicate digestive system issues, edema or fatigue.