少澤 : Shaoze : Lesser Marsh

Classifications:

Jing-Well and Metal point
Entry point from Shaochong He-9
One of the "59 piercings" for clearing Heat in Ling Shu Ch. 23

Location:

On the dorsal aspect of the little finger, at the junction of lines drawn along the ulnar border of the nail and the base of the nail, approximately 0.1 cun from the corner of the nail

Needling:

Perpenduclar or oblique insertion directed proximally 0.1 - 0.2 cun, or prick to bleed

Classical Needling:

"The Taiyang usually has much Blood and little Qi" (Su Wen 素問 ch. 24) implying this channel should normally be bled.
"The hand Yin and Yang receive their Qi via nearby paths so their Qi arrive swiftly. The depth of piercing must not exceed 2 fen and must not remain inserted for longer than one exhalation" (Ling Shu 靈樞 ch. 12).
"It is needled to a depth of one fen, (the needle) is retained for a duration of two exhalations, and it is moxaed with one cone" (Huangfu Mi 皇甫謐, 3rd Century, Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing 針灸甲乙經).

TCM Actions:

Clears Heat and benefits the sensory orifices
Revives consciousness
Promotes lactation and benefits the breasts

TCM Indications:

• Loss of consciousness from Windstroke (中風, Zhong Feng), cold sensation below the Heart, agitation with Heart pain, oppression and pain of the chest, pain of the lateral costal region, mania disorder, clonic spasm.
  
• Cold shivering, chills and fever with absence of sweating, febrile disease, Malarial (瘧, Nue) Disorders, cough.
  
• Headache, dizziness, Superficial Visual Obstruction, red eyes, nosebleed, deafness, tinnitus, Throat Painful Obstruction (喉痹, Hou Bi), curled tongue, stuff tongue, heat in the mouth, erosion of the mouth, mouth ulcers, drooling.
  
• Swelling of the breast, breast abscess, absence of lactation.
  
• Stiff neck, pain of the postero-lateral shoulder and upper arm, pain of the elbow, trembling and numbness of the arm, disorders of the little finger.

I Ching Hexagram:

䷥ Kui 睽 Opposition

Shared with Lingdao He-4 and balanced by ䷦ (Taixi Kid-3 or Weizhong Bl-40).

Hexagram attributions are my own with an explanation given in the glossary.

Neuroanatomy:

Superficial Innervation: Ulnar nerve (digital branch) from C8 and T1

Dermatome Segment: C8

Martial Applications & Effects of Injury:

Damage to this point can can have a delayed affect on the body's defences over a period of time and cause anger as Heat is raised in the Heart (Montaigue, Dim Mak Locations, Taijiworld.com).

In seizing martial arts (Qin Na) this point is a cavity pressing point (Dian Xue, 點穴). Both sides of the nail are pinched to obstruct the Qi and cause serious pain. If the pain is significant it can cause fainting. Sometimes the top of the nail bed is pressed instead. (Yang, 2004, Analysis of Shaolin Chin Na, 2nd Edition).

Major Combinations:

• Absence of lactation:
    Shaoze SI-1 with Shanzhong Ren-17 and Hegu LI-4
    (Yang Jizhou, 杨继洲, 1601: Zhen Jiu Da Cheng, 針灸大成, Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion).
  
  
• Absence of lactation:
    Reinforce Shaoze SI-1, moxa Shanzhong Ren-17
    (Yang Jizhou, 杨继洲, 1601: Zhen Jiu Da Cheng, 針灸大成, Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion).
  
  
• Swelling of the breasts:
    Shaoze SI-1 with Taiyang Ex-HN-5
    (Yu Long Fu, 玉龍賦, Ode of the Jade Dragon. First recorded in Gao Wu, 高武, 1529: Zhen Jiu Yu Jing, 針灸聚英, Glorious Anthology of Acupuncture and Moxibustion).
  
  
• Swelling of the breasts in women:
    Shaoze SI-1 with Zulinqi GB-41
    (Wu Yiding, 吳亦鼎, 1853: Shen Jiu Jing Lun, 神灸經論, Principles of Divine Moxibustion).
  
  
• Swelling of the breasts in women:
    Shaoze SI-1 with Tongziliao GB-1
    (Zhang Jiebin, 張景岳, 1624: Lei Jing Tu Yi, 類經圖翼, Illustrated Supplement to the Classic of Categories).
  
  
• Breast abscess:
    Shaoze SI-1 with Xaijuxu St-39, Zusanli St-36, Xiaxi GB-43, Yuji Lu-10, Weizhong Bl-40 and Zulinqi GB-41
    (Yang Jizhou, 杨继洲, 1601: Zhen Jiu Da Cheng, 針灸大成, Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion).
  
  
• Erosion, heat and dryness of the mouth:
    Shaoze SI-1 with Laogong Pc-8, Sanjian LI-3 and Taichong Liv-3
    (Sun Simiao, 孫思邈, 625: Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang, 備急千金要方, Essential Prescriptions Worth A Thousand Gold).
  
  
• Throat Painful Obstruction, curled tongue and dry mouth:
    Shaoze SI-1 with Guanchong SJ-1 and Zuqiaoyin GB-44
    (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:

Ling Shu Ch. 19, on the Four Seasonal Qi, advises selecting the Jing-Well and Ying-Spring openings in winter, piercing deeply and retaining for a while. However, the character for "retain" 留 is a combination of 田 "a field," possibly referring to the idea of waiting for things to grow, and 卯 which is the 4^th Earthly Branch (Mao, Rabbit, ䷡, 5-7 am, Large Intestine) and said to derive from a Shang Dynasty glyph, originally referring to a blood sacrifice (a person or animal cut in half) before coming to mean bloodletting and "pouring out" (Smith, 2011). This might suggest it was actually referring to bleeding these points, and maybe even letting the points bleed for a time rather than retaining the needle.

Ling Shu Ch. 23, On Heat Diseases, gives a different list of points for the "59 Piercings" to Su Wen Ch. 61. They include three on the outer and three on the inner side of the hands which most likely includes this point.

Cecil-Sterman explains that combining the Shu-Stream and Jing-Well points directed outwards is a method of expelling Pathogens from the Taiyang.

In the Maoshan Daoist tradition, when the 12 earthly branches, I Ching trigrams and elements are mapped onto the hand this fingertip equates to the branch 申 Shen and the element of Metal with no Trigram association (Read, 2020, FB Post; 17QQ.com, 2020, Eight trigrams and twelve Branches of the earth palm).

In Maoshan Daoism the character for Jing 井 is used to trap disease, ghosts and demons. It is drawn in the air invoking the "three mountains" mudra (index, middle and ring finger extended) with the bent line continuing in a circle (usually clockwise), or with ash and sprayed on with water held in the mouth, and sometimes on talismans (Read, 2020, FB Post, 1 Sep 2020). This may explain why the Jing-Well points are so often used to expel pathogens.

In Tibetan medicine:
Moxa point (AMNH, Tibetan Medical Paintings)

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