Hollow Pulse / Scallion Stalk Pulse
Updated 2026-08-01
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Hollow pulse (kou mai) is a classical pulse image in Chinese medicine. It is felt as floating, large and soft, collapsing into emptiness under firmer pressure, as if the finger pressed the hollow stalk of a scallion. It reflects acute depletion of blood inside the vessels while qi alone distends their walls, and it appears most often after massive hemorrhage such as hematemesis, uterine flooding, or trauma. The defining qualifier is that it marks an emergency of sudden blood loss rather than an ordinary chronic deficiency.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
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- Hemorrhage alarm: treat the finding as an emergency signal that blood volume has dropped sharply, not as a routine weak pulse - Volume check: ask what is left inside the vessel walls, since only qi remains to prop them open - Immediate response: move at once to replenish blood and bind qi so that qi does not escape with the blood
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When a large volume of blood is lost suddenly, the vessels are no longer filled, yet qi keeps distending their walls. Light pressure therefore meets a broad, soft pulse while deeper pressure finds nothing inside. That hollow middle is the signature of yin blood abruptly stripped away and yang qi floating outward. Because the pattern predicts that qi will follow the blood out, the pulse works as a warning of impending collapse.
MINIMUM ACTION
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- baike.baidu.comhttps://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%8A%A4%E8%84%89verified
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