Chinese Medicine> Intake & Assessment
TCM Intake and Assessment Process
Understanding Your Whole Story
If you’ve been told “everything looks normal,” but you don’t feel normal—you’re not imagining it.
In Chinese Medicine, we trace the threads. We ask what came before, what followed, and what changed (and predict the trajectory).
It’s often the quiet details—a shift in sleep, a digestive quirk, a pattern in your emotional weather, characteristics of pain —that lead us to the root.
This is where healing begins: by connecting dots into threads, and how they have shaped your current state.
And YOU are an essential part of that process.
Explore how our in-depth TCM intake process helps us trace your unique path to balance and well-being.
You’re welcome to scroll at your own pace—or click a topic below to jump to what speaks to you.
Weaving The Threads: What To Expect
At Tsumugi, healing begins by understanding your unique life story—how each thread of your experience has been woven over time.
A thorough and in-depth intake is essential in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
It helps us identify not just your symptoms, but the root cause(s) of imbalance in your system.
Beginning The Weaving: Our First Session
Before we meet, you’ll be asked to complete a detailed health history form.
It explores ten core areas of your health and life as well as gynecological questions.
This organized and structured information offers clues to deeper patterns behind what’s showing up in your body, and help us analyze your case.
Your form will be reviewed carefully prior to the session - so please fill them in well in advance!
Then, during your initial session, we’ll talk—filling in any gaps:
What might have been missed in the form?
Are there clarifying questions to help us narrow down patterns?
Together, we begin to understand:
How your body and mind have been holding things together
The effects of your environment, stress, and emotional landscape
Where balance may have shifted—and why
How your system is working to maintain balance
The Four Diagnostic Tools: Reading the Weave
We not only analyze the information intellectually, we also have following tools to solidify our understanding of your story and struggles.
Like a skilled artisan inspecting each thread and knot, we use four classical diagnostic methods to see the full picture:
Observation (Inspection)
Your posture and body language. Your skin tone. Your facial expressions—and especially the tongue. It reveals so much about your body’s internal state.Listening & Smelling (Auscultation & Olfaction)
Voice tone, breathing patterns, abdominal sounds, and scents offer diagnostic clues.Palpation (Touch)
Your pulse, abdomen, and key acupoints—observing tenderness, temperature shifts, or textural changes.
This initial intake process isn’t just our starting point—it’s something we return to, again and again, to reflect and recalibrate.
Only after gathering all the clues do we analyze the case. We identify patterns of disharmony unique to you.
More Than a Diagnosis: Discovering the Pattern
Western medicine gives names to groups of symptoms - diagnosis (diagnoses if more than two) such as “endometriosis.”
Chinese Medicine also makes a diagnosis.
For many, diagnosis is devastating, and for some, it gives a sense of relief and clarity.
But diagnosis is not the solution, it is an entry point for solving the “mystery.”
To do that, TCM asks: What’s the pattern?
Analyzing your story and all the dynamics of all the elements discussed in the HERE (What is TCM?) and from how it happened to how they evolved over time, make us arrive at “patterns”.
A pattern describes:
The root cause and how it developed
Which organs, meridians, or elements are involved
The influence of internal or external factors
The Yin-Yang dynamics and pathogenic factors (like Damp, Heat, Cold, etc.) and more.
For example: in TCM, endometriosis presents as more than ten different patterns—each with a different root, and each requiring a different treatment strategy.
(Check out this website created a legendary Chinese Medicine Doctor in the US.)
We don’t treat the condition. We don’t pathologies.
We gently inquire and treat the unique pattern that is you.
Narrowing down the pattern(s) is a skill that cannot be developed over night.
And for complex conditions, patterns change as things unfold. So, pattern differentiation is an ongoing process.
We pause and reflect how we have been weaving and make adjustment.
In Ontario, only Registered Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners (R.TCMPs) and Registered Acupuncturists (R.Acs) are authorized to communicate a TCM diagnose (thus treat) based on these principles—ensuring your care is safe, skilled, and held with integrity (Traditional Chinese Medicine Act, 2006).
Frequently Asked Questions
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No, lab and diagnostic results are not required to receive Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treatment. However, if you have recent test results, they can be helpful for tracking progress from a Western medical perspective. We’re happy to keep these documents on file in our secure electronic health record system, should you choose to share them with us.
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Absolutely!
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), we focus on you, not just your diagnosis or lab results. TCM doesn’t require a Western medical diagnosis to begin care. Whether you’re unsure about the need for a formal diagnosis or in the midst of one, you can start your healing journey right away.
While your Western diagnosis may not change our approach, TCM works by understanding your unique health patterns. Our gentle, holistic methods can support you through your healing process and provide insights as you explore your options.
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We totally understand that life gets busy—and forms can feel overwhelming.
That said, at Tsumugi, completing the intake form is a required part of care. It helps us understand your full health picture and provide safe, personalized treatment.That doesn’t mean you’re stuck. You have a few options:
Wait until you have time to complete the form. We’ll be here when you're ready.
Explore other care providers who may offer treatments without in-depth intake.
Come to your appointment without filling it out.
We can go through the form together—but please know that this will take more time (and cost more), and your first visit may focus mainly on information gathering rather than treatment planning.
We're here to support you—and we want your experience to be meaningful, not rushed. If you're stuck or overwhelmed, feel free to reach out. We can talk through options and help you move forward at a pace that feels doable.
Only after arriving the diagnosis and pattern differentiations, we can create a treatment plan.
Curious about how you can be a part of treatment planning?
Continue to: Your personalized TCM Plan