4.       Inspection of tongue mobility:  normal tongue moves agilely, and contracts or extends at will.  Unhealthy person, however, will have the following problem in tongue mobility:

(1)            Stiff tongue:  this is when the tongue is stiff with little mobility, resulting slurry speech.  Stiffness of tongue is often caused by heart spirit being troubled by heat thus losing its dominance over tongue, or it is caused by deficiency in Yin because of high heat, lack of nourishment in the tendon and meridian, or blockage of meridian due to phlegm.  This is often seen in heat entering the Pericardium, heat reducing fluid, stagnation of

phlegm, or strokes or symptoms of strokes.