周榮 : Zhourong : Encircling Glory / All-Encompassing Flourishing

Location Guides:

Classifications:

Front Shu of the Breast

Trigger point (Travell & Simons, 1998, Trigger Point Manual)

Location:

On the lateral side of the chest, in the second intercostal space, 6 cun lateral to the midline.

Needling:

Transverse-oblique insertion along the intercostal space 0.5 - 1 cun

Warnings:

Perpendicular insertion, especially in thin patients, carries a substanstial risk of inducing a pneumothorax.

Classical Needling:

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

TCM Actions:

Regulates and descends Qi and unbinds the chest

TCM Indications:

• Distension and fullness of the chest and lateral costal region, cough, coughing with copious phlegm or pus, shortness of breath, difficult ingestion, desires to drink fluids.

Neuroanatomy:

Superficial Innervation: Lateral cutaneous thoracic nerve from T3

Dermatome Segment: T3

Trigger Point Associations:

Muscle:
Pectoralis major (clavicular head)

Pain Referral Pattern:
From point across top of chest inferior to clavicle

Indications:
Strain of pectorals ; Cardiac syndromes

Martial Applications & Effects of Injury:

Like Xiongxiang Sp 19, this point also weakens the opposite leg but to a lesser degree. However, it will cause great local tearing of the tendons in the shoulder with little or no external damage. Used with Qimen Liv-14 it is a death combination causing the body to go numb and the lungs and heart to stop (Montaigue, Dim Mak Locations, Taijiworld.com).

Major Combinations:

• Difficult ingestion with desire to drink fluids:
    Zhourong Sp-20 with Dachangshu Bl-25
    (Sun Simiao, 孫思邈, 625: Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang, 備急千金要方, Essential Prescriptions Worth A Thousand Gold).
  
  
• Difficult ingestion:
    Zhourong Sp-20 with Zhongfu Lu-1, Kunlun Bl-60, Chengman St-20 and Yuji Lu-10
    (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:

One of the twelve Shu points of the breast mentioned in the Su Wen Ch. 58 and identified by Wang Bing.

Qing dynasty commentator Yue Hanzhen noted that the image of "All-Encompassing Flourishing" in the name suggests that it encompasses all the four directions, itself being on an Earth channel, and flourishes to engender Metal as the upward line of points becomes the Lung channel from here (Yue, Explanation of Channels and Points, trans. Brown, 2019, p. 193).

If the Shu points of the Breast have elemental organ associations like the Shu points of the Chest, then this imagery could also suggest this is the point of Wood whose nature is to expand, grow and flourish. If the theory is correct that these relate to the formation of bodily Qi from food and drink, then this point would be where all final products gather, Ying Qi, Wei Qi and Blood, to spread outwards from the chest around the body, encompassing all and flourishing.

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