液門 : Yemen : Fluid Gate

Classifications:

Ying-Spring and Water point
Father point of the San Jiao channel

Location:

Between the little and ring fingers, 0.5 cun proximal to the margin of the web.

Needling:

Perpendicular insertion 0.3 - 0.5 cun

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 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 two fen and moxaed with three cones" (Huangfu Mi 皇甫謐, 3rd Century, Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing 針灸甲乙經).

TCM Actions:

Disperses Upper Jiao Heat and benefits the ears
Calms the Shen
Activates the channel and alleviates pain

TCM Indications:

• Deafness, sudden deafness, tinnitus, earache, headache, red eyes with lacrimation, dry eyes, swelling and pain of the throat, toothache, bleeding gums, pain of the gums.
  
• Fright palpitations, raving, mania, propensity to fright, epilepsy, shortness of breath.
  
• Malarial (瘧, Nue) Disorders, fever with absence of sweating.
  
• Pain of the arm, inability to raise the arm due to pain, redness and swelling of the back of the hand, contraction of the five fingers, weakness of the wrist, neck pain.

I Ching Hexagram:

䷺ Huan 渙 Waves Dispersing

Shared with Quze Pc-3. Balanced by ䷶ (Xingjian Liv-2 or Yangfu GB-38).

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

Neuroanatomy:

Superficial Innervation: Ulnar nerve from C8 and T1

Dermatome Segment: C7, C8

Martial Applications & Effects of Injury:

One of the 36 vital points of Feng Yiyuan 馮一元 listed in the Wu Bei Zhi 武備志 (Treatise on Armament Technology) by Mao Yuanyi 茅元儀 (1621) (McCarthy, 2016, Bubishi: The Classic Manual of Combat).

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

Major Combinations:

• Ear pain, deafness and tinnitus:
    Yemen SJ-2 with Tianchuang SI-16, Yangxi LI-5, Guanchong SJ-1 and Zhongzhu SJ-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).
  
  
• Tinnitus and deafness:
    Yemen SJ-2 with Guanchong SJ-1 Yangxi LI-5, Xiaguan St-7 and Yanggu SI-5
    (Haungfu Mi, 皇甫謐, 282: Zhen Jiu Jia Yi Jing, 針灸甲乙經, Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion).
  
  
• Sudden deafness:
    Yemen SJ-2 with Sanyangluo SJ-8
    (Wang Zhizhong, 王執中, 1220: Zhen Jiu Zi Sheng Jing, 針灸資生經, Classic of Supporting Life with Acupuncture and Moxibustion).
  
  
• Throat Pain:
    Yemen SJ-2 with Yuji Lu-10
    (Gao Wu, 高武, 1529: Bai Zheng Fu, 百症賦, Ode of a Hundred Symptoms).
  
  
• Toothache of the lower jaw:
    Yemen SJ-2 with Yanggu SI-5, Shangyang LI-1, Erjian LI-2 and Sidu SJ-9
    (Sun Simiao, 孫思邈, 625: Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang, 備急千金要方, Essential Prescriptions Worth A Thousand Gold).
  
  
• Fright palpitations:
    Yemen SJ-2 with Tianjing SJ-10, Baihui Du-20 and Shendao Du-11
    (Wang Zhizhong, 王執中, 1220: Zhen Jiu Zi Sheng Jing, 針灸資生經, Classic of Supporting Life with Acupuncture and Moxibustion).

Notes:

Despite only Zhongzhu SJ-3 mentioning benefiting the eyes, the indications for this point include red eyes, tearing and dry eyes. As the water point it can be understood to clear Heat, transform Dampness and improve dryness in the whole channel including the eyes.

In five element acupuncture, as father point of the San Jiao channel this can control excesses in the San Jiao.

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. 52, On the Wei Qi, considers this to be the root of the hand Shaoyang meridian with the tip being at Jiaosun SJ-20 or Sizhukong SJ-23.

In Mayan medicine:
Pierced for problems in the hands and pain in the elbow. Said to be where the wind of the body is stored (Garcia, Sierra, Balam, 1999: Wind in the Blood).

Galen mentioned bleeding the vein in the left ring finger for a disordered spleen, preferably on two consecutive days (Brain, 1986, Galen on Bloodletting, p.90).

Sieler (2015, Lethal Spots, Vital Secrets, p.196-197) describes an incident where a siddha vital spot practitioner (acan) does a demonstration of how easily he can open the author's fist "with astounding ease by pressing a spot between the knuckles of the small and the ring finger. This produces stinging pain, forcing me to open my hand".

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