頷厭 : Hanyan : Jaw Serenity

Location Guides:

Meetings:

Meeting of Gall Bladder with San Jiao and Stomach

Location:

In the temporal region, within the hairline, one quarter of the distance between Touwei St-8 and Qubin GB-7

Needling:

Transverse insertion 0.5 - 1.5 cun in the direction symptoms or to connect with other points.

Classical Needling:

"The Shaoyang usually has little Blood and much Qi" (Su Wen 素問 ch. 24) implying this channel should normally be needled.
"The foot Shaoyang is to be pierced 4 fen deep and remain inserted for five exhalations" (Ling Shu 靈樞 ch. 12).
"It is needled to a depth of seven fen, (the needle) is retained for a duration of seven exhalations, and it is moxaed with three cones" (Huangfu Mi 皇甫謐, 3rd Century, Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing 針灸甲乙經).

TCM Actions:

Eliminates Wind and clears Heat
Activates the channel and alleviates pain

TCM Indications:

• One-sided headache, head wind (with pain at bilateral Taiyang, headache with heat in the body, Visual Dizziness, pain and redness of the outer canthus.
  
• Tinnitus, earache.
  
• Clonic spasm, lockjaw, epilepsy, deviation of the mouth and eye, toothache, sneezing.
  
• Neck pain, wrist pain, inability to flex the wrist, joint wind with sweating.

Neuroanatomy:

Superficial Innervation: Auriculo-temporal nerve from posterior division of mandibular branch of trigeminal nerve (CN V3)

Dermatome Segment: CN V3 mandibular branch of trigeminal

Martial Applications & Effects of Injury:

See Montaigue, Dim Mak Locations, Taijiworld.com for explanation of effects.

Major Combinations:

• One-sided headache:
    Hanyan GB-4 with Xuanlu GB-5
    (Gao Wu, 高武, 1529: Bai Zheng Fu, 百症賦, Ode of a Hundred Symptoms).
  
  
• Wind Dizziness and one-sided headache:
    Hanyan GB-4 with Qianding Du-21 and Houding Du-19
    (Sun Simiao, 孫思邈, 625: Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang, 備急千金要方, Essential Prescriptions Worth A Thousand Gold).
  
  
• Wind Dizziness:
    Hanyan GB-4 with Houding Du-19 and Yuzhen Bl-9
    (Wang Zhizhong, 王執中, 1220: Zhen Jiu Zi Sheng Jing, 針灸資生經, Classic of Supporting Life with Acupuncture and Moxibustion).
  
  
• Neck pain, joint pain and sweating:
    Hanyan GB-4, Feiyang Bl-58 and Yongquan Kid-1
    (Sun Simiao, 孫思邈, 625: Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang, 備急千金要方, Essential Prescriptions Worth A Thousand Gold).

Notes:

The Su Wen Ch. 20, Discourse on the Three Sections and Nine Indicators, describes "the moving vessels on the two [sides of the] forehead" as the "The heaven [indicator] of the upper section... The heaven [indicator] serves to examine the qi at the corners of the head". Wang Bing's commentary says this means "The movement of the qi of the foot minor yang vessels [can be felt] there" suggesting it indicates the health of the Gallbladder channel (Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen, trans. Unschuld & Tessenow, 2011). The sides of the forehead indicate somewhere in the temporal region, but the fact that it is the "heaven of the upper section" implies it must be above the "man" indicator "in front of the ear", at Erheliao SJ-22 and so among the Shaoyang points of the upper temple.

Among the Gall Bladder points of the head, there appear to be some that indicate they are special points for influencing the Zangfu and Channels, similar to the Front or Back Shu points. The name of thus point, "Jaw Serenity," its meeting with the Stomach channel and indications for jaw and mouth diseases would make it a suitable candidate for the head-Shu for the Stomach.

In Mayan medicine:
Punctured in cases of Chiba Pool headache in conjuction with Touwei St-8 and Shenting Du-24 (Garcia, Sierra, Balam, 1999: Wind in the Blood)

Reference Notes:

Basic information on location, needle depth, TCM actions, indications and combinations is taken from Deadman et al (2001): A Manual of Acupuncture with additional anatomical information researched by reference to Gray's Anatomy (38th Ed., 1995) unless otherwise referenced. Images were found on acupunctureschoolonline.com and can be traced back to Claudia Focks (2008) Atlas of Acupuncture originally. I cannot claim any credit or rights over them. Other sources should be quoted in the text.

For some of the more unusual terms I have created a glossary here