Shenshu and Taixi
Star腎俞、太谿 (Shènshū, Tàixī)
Modern Chinese point-pair (对穴) teaching, as compiled by Guo Changqing and colleagues at the School of Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Tuina, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine.
Points
-
Back-Shu point of the Kidney; tonifies Kidney yin and yang and strengthens the lower back.
Patient prone: 1.5 cun lateral to the lower border of the L2 spinous process, level with GV4 (which lies opposite the umbilicus, CV8). Insert perpendicularly 0.5–1.0 cun; the needle heads toward quadratus lumborum and psoas major. The aching numbness should carry to the hip and on down the leg.
-
Yuan-Source point of the Kidney; nourishes Kidney yin and yang and the essence.
On the medial ankle in the hollow between the tip of the medial malleolus and the Achilles tendon. Insert perpendicularly, directed toward BL60, 0.5–1.0 cun through the deep fascia of the leg, passing between the ankle and the tendon, seeking local aching and numbness radiating to the heel.
Treatment Principle
Nourish Kidney yin and tonify the Kidney; strengthen the original qi.
Indications
Method
BL23 is needled prone, perpendicularly 0.5–1.0 cun on both sides; KI3 perpendicularly toward BL60 0.5–1.0 cun. The book gives no retention time or moxibustion instructions for this pair.
⚠ Cautions
Do not needle BL23 deeper than the stated range: the kidney lies deep to the lumbar muscles at this level.
About
The Kidney's Back-Shu point with its Yuan-Source point — a standard tonifying pair for depletion of the Kidney: weakness, lower-back and heel pain, tinnitus and forgetfulness, urinary disorders and oedema, impotence and absent periods.
Rationale
BL23 is the Back-Shu point of the Kidney, where the organ's qi is transported to the back; KI3 is the Kidney's Yuan-Source point, where its source qi surfaces at the ankle. Combining the Back-Shu and Yuan-Source points of a zang organ is a recognised way of tonifying it, and the Kidney's role as the root of original (yuan) qi, of the bones, the ears and the essence explains the breadth of the indications.
Sources
- Guo Changqing (ed.). Acupuncture of Acupoint Combinations: Quick Lookups. Daylesford: Heart Space Publications, 2020 (English edition; © China Science and Technology Press). ISBN 978-0-6489215-5-4. Chapter 5, combination 6.
📝 Notes
Public notes from the community and your own private notes on Shenshu and Taixi.
No notes yet.