The Relationship between the Five Qiao (Eye,Tongue,Mouth,Nose,Ear) and the Five Zang Organs Examined by Means of the Bi-Digital O-Ring Test

Abstract

In traditional Chinese medicine, the eyes, tongue, lips, nose, and ears/two yin (the anterior and posterior yin) are called the five sense organs (sensation), wu qiao (five orifices), or seven kong. In Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen, it is said that “the liver has openings in the eyes, the heart has an opening in the tongues, the spleen has an opening in the mouth, the lungs have openings in the nose, and the kidney has openings in the ears.”

However, it is difficult to make cfficienct practical use of these theories in clinical activities. Accordingly, we performed a clinical study of wu qiao by the Bi-Digital O-Ring Test (BDORT). The BDORT is a test in which the subject forms a ring with two fingers (test fingers), and the examiner evaluates muscle strength by trying to open the closed ring. To test the function of each sense organ, the examiner gently pushes on the area that represents each sense organ and at the same time carries out the BDORT.

When the test fingers can be opened by the examiner, the sense organ is suspected of having some abnormality, and if the fingers remain closed the sense organ is considered normal. On the other hand, methods of diagnosing internal organs with BDORT consist of having the subject hold a microscopic specimen of some internal organ on a glass slide and then perform the BDORT. When the results of the BDORT are negative the internal organ is suspected of some abnormality.

We studied the correlation between wu qiao and the internal organs in 15 subjects. The results showed an agreement rate of 66.7%, and these appear to be relatively good correlations between wu qiao and the internal organs.