Determining your Body Constitution

Now, who sets the standard for body constitution classification? What is the basis for judgment or diagnosis?

The classification system for body constitution was published by Zhonghua Zhong Yi Yao Yi Xue Hui. It is a questionnaire with a series of questions to be answered. A candidate answers all the questions in the Classification and Judgment Table of the Chinese Medical Constitution. Each question is scored on a scale from 1 to 5. The original score and the conversion score are then calculated, and the body constitution is then determined according to the published standard.

TCM Body constitution Standardization Scale (questionnaire)

Type A Pinghe

Note. The maximum original score for Type A Pinghe is 40.

Type B Qixu

Answer the following questions with the same scoring system, that is, No (1 point), Rarely (2 points), Sometimes (3 points), Often ( 4 points), Always (5 points). Now add up the scores. This is your original score for Type B Qixu. The maximum score is 40.

Do you get tired easily?

Are you prone to shortness of breath (shortness of breath, unable to catch the breath)?

Are you easily flustered?

Do you easily feel dizzy or do you feel dizzy when you stand up?

Are you more likely to catch a cold than others?

Do you like to be quiet and too lazy to talk?

Do you speak in a low and weak voice?

Are you prone to sweating if you are more active?

Type C Yangxu

Answer the following questions with the same scoring system, that is, No (1 point), Rarely (2 points), Sometimes (3 points), Often ( 4 points), Always (5 points). Now add up the scores. This is your original score for Type C Yangxu. The maximum score is 35.

Are your hands and feet cold?

Are your stomach, back or waist and knees cold?

Do you feel afraid of the cold and wear more clothes than others?

You are more afraid of the cold in winter, don’t you like to blow fans and air conditioners in summer?

Are you more likely to catch a cold than others?

Do you feel uncomfortable eating (drinking) cold things or afraid of eating (drinking) cold things?

Are you prone to diarrhea and near-diarrhea after catching a cold or eating (drinking) cold things?

Type D Yinxu

Answer the following questions with the same scoring system, that is, No (1 point), Rarely (2 points), Sometimes (3 points), Often ( 4 points), Always (5 points). Now add up the scores. This is your original score for Type D Yinxu. The maximum score is 40.

Do you feel warmth in your hands and feet?

Do you feel hot on your body and face?

Is your skin or lips dry?

Is the color of your lips redder than the average person?

Are you prone to constipation or dry stools?

Are your cheeks flushed or reddish on both sides of your face?

Do you feel dry eyes?

Do you feel a dry mouth and throat and always want to drink water?

Type E Tanshi

Answer the following questions with the same scoring system, that is, No (1 point), Rarely (2 points), Sometimes (3 points), Often ( 4 points), Always (5 points). Now add up the scores. This is your original score for Type E Tanshi. The maximum score is 40.

Do you feel chest tightness or fullness in your abdomen?

Do you feel heavy or uncomfortable?

Is your abdomen plump and soft?

Do you have excessive secretion of forehead oil?

Is your upper eyelid swollen than others (the upper eyelid is slightly raised)?

Do you feel sticky in your mouth?

Do you usually have a lot of sputum, especially do you feel that sputum is always blocked in your throat?

Do you have a thick and greasy tongue coating or a feeling of thick tongue coating?

Type F Shire

Answer the following questions with the same scoring system, that is, No (1 point), Rarely (2 points), Sometimes (3 points), Often ( 4 points), Always (5 points). Now add up the scores. This is your original score for Type F Shire. The maximum score is 30.

Do you feel oily or shiny on your face or nose?

Is your face prone to acne or skin sores and boils?

Do you feel a bitter taste in your mouth or a peculiar smell in your mouth?

Do you feel that your stool is sticky and inexhaustible?

Does your urethra feel warm when you urinate, and your urine is dark?

Do you have yellow vaginal discharge? (For women only)

Is your scrotum wet? (For men only)

Type G Xueyu

Answer the following questions with the same scoring system, that is, No (1 point), Rarely (2 points), Sometimes (3 points), Often ( 4 points), Always (5 points). Now add up the scores. This is your original score for Type G Xueyu. The maximum score is 35.

Does your skin have bruises (bleeding under the skin) unknowingly?

Are there tiny bloodshot eyes in your cheeks?

Is there any pain in your body?

Are you dull or prone to brown spots?

Do you have dark circles?

Do you easily forget things (forgetfulness)?

Is your lip color dull?

Type H Qiyu

Answer the following questions with the same scoring system, that is, No (1 point), Rarely (2 points), Sometimes (3 points), Often ( 4 points), Always (5 points). Now add up the scores. This is your original score for Type H Qiyu. The maximum score is 35.

Do you feel depressed?

Are you nervous or anxious?

Are you sentimental and emotionally fragile?

Are you easily scared or frightened?

Is your flank or breast painful?

Do you sigh for no reason?

Do you have a foreign body sensation in your throat and can’t vomit or swallow?

Type I Tebing

Answer the following questions with the same scoring system, that is, No (1 point), Rarely (2 points), Sometimes (3 points), Often ( 4 points), Always (5 points). Now add up the scores. This is your original score for Type I Tebing. The maximum score is 35.

Do you sneeze even if you don’t have a cold?

Do you have congestion and a runny nose even if you don’t have a cold?

Do you have coughing and wheezing due to seasonal changes, temperature changes or peculiar smells?

Are you prone to allergies (drugs, food, smell, pollen, seasons, climate change, etc.)?

Does your skin have hives (wind lumps, rubella lump, wind lumps)?

Have you ever had purpura (purple petechiae, petechiae) on your skin due to allergies?

Does your skin become red when scratched?

Judgment method

A candidate will answer all the questions in the Classification and Judgment Table of Traditional Chinese Medicine Constitution above.

There are nine types of body constitution. There are either seven or eight questions for each body constitution type. The candidate answers each question from 1 to 5 according to his recent body conditions, until he has answered all the questions.

Now the candidate calculates the original score and the conversion score of each body constitution type. Then he determines his body constitution type according to the established standard.

Here is how the candidate calculates the original score and the conversion score of each body constitution type:
Original score = add up the scores of each type
Conversion score=[(original score-number of entries)/(number of entries x4)]x100

For example, when the candidate answers questions of Type C Yangxu, a total of 7 items, the scores of items 1 to 7 are: 3/4/2/4/1/5/3, then
Original score=3+4+2+4+1+5+3=22 points,
Conversion score=[(22-7)÷(7×4)]×100=15÷28×100=53.57

After the candidate has calculated the conversion scores of each body constitution type according to the questionnaire above, he can then determine his own body constitution type based on the judging criteria below.

Judgment criteria

A Type A constitution is the standard constitution, and the other eight types of constitutions are deviations from the standard constitution. First the candidate will try to determine whether he has a Type A body constitution as follows.

Type A

The criteria of a Type A body constitution are:

conversion score equals or greater than 60 for Type A and conversion scores for the remaining eight types each is less than 30.

Then the body constitution is determined to be Type A.

If the conversion score equals or greater than 60 for Type A and the conversion scores for the remaining eight types each is less than 40, then the body constitution is determined to be a Fundamentally Type A.

If it does not satisfy any one of the above conditions, then the body constitution is determined to be not a Type A. If it is not a Type A, then we proceed to determine what type it is.

Other types

Conversion scores equals 40 for the body type. Then the determination is Yes for that type of body constitution.

Conversion scores from 30 to 39, inclusive, then the determination is an Inclined Yes.

Conversion scores less than 30, then the judgement is No.

Examples

Example 1: The conversion scores of a person’s various constitution types are as follows:
75 points for Type A zhonghe,
56 points for Type B qixu,
27 points for Type C yangxu,
25 points for Type D yinxu,
12 points for Type E tanshi,
15 points for Type F shire,
20 points for Type G xueyu,
18 points for Type H qiyu
10 points for Type I Tebing.

According to the judgment standard, although the conversion score of Type A pinghe is greater than or equal to 60, not all of the other eight physical conversion scores are less than 40. Among them, the conversion score of Type B qixu is greater than or equal to 40, so this person cannot be determined to have a Type A body constitution. He should be determined to have a Type B qixu body constitution.

Example 2: The conversion scores of a person’s various constitution types are as follows:
75 points for Type A pinghe,
16 points for Type B qixu,
27 points for Type C yangxu,
25 points for Type D yinxu,
32 points for Type E tanshi,
25 points for Type F shire,
10 points for Type G xueyu,
18 points for Type H qiyu,
10 points for Type I tebing.

According to the judging criteria, the conversion score of Type A is greater than or equal to 60, and the other eight types of constitution conversion scores are all less than 40. Thus we determine that this person is basically a Type A constitution.

At the same time, the conversion score of Type E tanshi is between 30 and 39 points, which can be judged as having a tendency of tanshi, so the final constitution judgment result of the person is basically Type A pinghe, with a tendency of Type E tanshi.

Are you confused? If you are, good. You have tried to understand the concept. It confuses practitioners like us in the beginning too.

If you have any questions on this, contact us. If you want us to help you to determine your body constitution, contact us.

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Folks, that is all for now. If you think this article may be beneficial to your friends and loved-ones, feel free to forward this article to them.

This is an extract of the full article published in Mustang BodyWorks Infoletter, a paid-subscription.

Future episodes for this series:

• Fundamental concept of body constitution
• Advanced concepts on body constitution
• More Advanced concepts on body constitution

Stay tuned for the next episode: Fundamental concept of body constitution.

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