Pulse Diagnoses in Patients While Dysmenorrhea is Attacking

Background: Pulse diagnosis of the dysmenorrhea patients before and after acupuncture treatment on the acupoint San Yin Jiao (SP6) were performed so that the mechanism led to the pain can be understood more clearly and one may have a better idea to treat the disease in the future.

Methods: Fifteen women participated in the study voluntarily. They have first to fill in the form of Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain. Then the pulse of the subjects were measured by ANSWatch before and after acupuncture. All meridians can be assessed by analyzing the pulse spectra through Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the original pulse data. The significant change of amplitude in certain harmonics which corresponds to a specific meridian after acupuncture treatment can be selected out.

Inclusion criteria

• The inclusion criteria of the subjects were the presence of pain during menstruation or three days before it. It needed to recheck if the menstrual cycle appeared within three days after recruiting if dysmenorrhea attacked before menstruation.

Exclusion criteria

• The exclusion criterion was that subjects did not take pain killers in the 12 hours before measurement.