Weizhong and Quze
Star委中、曲澤 (Wěizhōng, Qūzé)
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
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He-Sea point of the Bladder; clears summer-heat and cools the blood.
Patient prone: at the midpoint of the popliteal crease between the tendons of biceps femoris and semitendinosus. Insert perpendicularly 0.5–1.0 cun into the muscles of the popliteal fossa, seeking an aching, distended, numb sensation that travels down the calf to the foot.
-
He-Sea point of the Pericardium; clears heat from the Heart and blood, stops vomiting and calms the spirit.
Arm extended, palm up, elbow slightly flexed: on the elbow crease on the ulnar side of the biceps tendon. Insert perpendicularly 0.5–1.0 cun between the basilic and median cubital veins through the anterior cubital fascia to lie beside the median nerve and brachialis, medial to the brachial artery, seeking numbness and distension that spreads to the middle finger.
Treatment Principle
Clear heat and cool the blood, resolve toxicity, free the channel to relieve pain, and restore consciousness.
Indications
Method
The elbow and knee creases are needled perpendicularly 0.5–1.0 cun each — BL40 with the patient prone, PC3 with the arm supinated. The book gives no retention time or moxibustion instructions for this pair.
⚠ Cautions
The brachial artery runs just medial to the biceps tendon beside PC3, and the popliteal artery and tibial nerve lie beneath BL40: palpate first and do not needle deeply at either point.
About
The He-Sea points of the elbow and knee creases, combined to clear intense heat and toxin from the blood: skin infections, high fever, acute vomiting and diarrhoea, and acute disorders of consciousness such as stroke and seizures.
Rationale
BL40 and PC3 are both He-Sea points, and both are traditional sites for pricking the visible veins of the knee and elbow creases to drain heat from the blood. PC3 clears heat from the Heart and Pericardium, which governs consciousness, and harmonises the Stomach; BL40 cools the blood and resolves damp-heat affecting the skin. The pair therefore spans toxic heat in the skin, heat in the Stomach and intestines, and heat disturbing the spirit.
Clinical Notes
Our corpus records that the visible veins at both points may be pricked to bleed, the traditional way of using this pair for acute heat and sudden vomiting and diarrhoea. The book's own instructions for this entry cover filiform needling only. In stroke, epilepsy and hypertension the pair is an adjunct to, not a replacement for, emergency medical care.
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 4, combination 18.
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