Pulse (Nadi) Analysis for Disease Diagnosis: A Detailed Review

Abstract

“Nadi Pariksha,” i.e., measurement of the pulse, has been documented to be used by Ayurveda for assessing diseases and various other psychological conditions. Ayurveda and another ancient medicine system like traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and traditional Korean medicine have thousand years of experience in wrist pulse analysis to diagnose the subject's health condition and the root cause of a disease. According to ancient literature, a human’s health status is dependent on three essential constitutions Vata, Pitta, and Kapha (Cun, Guan, and Chi in TCM). The term “tri-dosha” is used to characterize them. An imbalance of these doshas causes disease. Therefore, in modern health practices, it is necessary to understand these pulses imbalance with modern signal processing techniques. In this review, an attempt has been made to discuss the classical hypotheses of pulse measurement based on different Ayurvedic parameters and modern wrist pulse parameters like pulse wave analysis using pulse wave velocity and pulse rate variability. The various modern parameters and other feature extraction methods used to detect multiple diseases are also discussed.