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The process of diagnosing a morbid condition as a disease pattern of the triple burner.

The triple burner is understood to be an entity that unites certain functions of the bowels and viscera, namely the heart and lung in the upper burner, the spleen and stomach in the center burner, and the kidney, intestines, and bladder, whose disease patterns of these are all covered individually. Hence, bowel and visceral pattern identification does not conventionally include triple burner disease patterns, and the term triple burner pattern identification conventionally refers to a scheme applied in warm disease, which is described in warm disease pattern identification. However, the function of the triple burner is to move qì and fluids, pathologies of the triple burner can be briefly described as follows:

The function of the triple burner is to move qì and fluids. Medical scholars now understand the triple burner to be a functional entity that unites certain functions of the bowels and viscera, namely the heart and lung in the upper burner, the spleen and stomach in the center burner, and the kidney, intestines, and bladder. Triple burner pattern identification conventionally refers to a scheme applied in warm disease, which is described in warm disease pattern identification. Modern Chinese diagnostic texts do not include triple burner patterns among bowel and visceral patterns, since they are all covered by the patterns of individual bowels and viscera. However, pathologies of the triple burner can be briefly described as follows:

Fluid retention: Fluid retention manifests as water swelling, scant urine, and abdominal fullness. This occurs as a result of disturbances of the lung, spleen, kidney, stomach, intestines, and bladder.

Qì vacuity: Reduced movement of qì causes qì vacuity in certain locations.

• In upper burner qì vacuity, there are signs such as heart palpitation, shortness of breath, laziness to speak, and a faint low voice.
• In center burner qì vacuity, signs such as poor appetite, abdominal distension, and lack of strength in the limbs appear.
• In lower burner qì vacuity, signs such as copious urine, enuresis, and urinary incontinence appear.

Inhibited qì dynamic : Disturbances among the bowels and viscera of the upper, center, and lower burners can cause inhibition of the qì dynamic.

• When the function of the upper burner is disturbed, it can affect the diffusion of essential qì; when the qì dynamic is depressed, there may be heat effusion.
• When the function of the center burner is disturbed, affecting the digestion and assimilation of food, signs such as abdominal pain, rumbling intestines, constipation, or diarrhea may appear.
• When lower burner function is disturbed, affecting the downward percolation of fluids, there may be disturbances of urinary voiding.

See the following:

• Warm disease pattern
• Upper-burner pattern
• Center-burner pattern
• Lower-burner pattern

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