Yintang, Yingxiang and Shangyingxiang
Star印堂、迎香、上迎香 (Yìntáng, Yíngxiāng, Shàngyíngxiāng)
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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Opens the nose from above and clears the forehead.
Patient sitting or supine. At the midpoint between the inner ends of the eyebrows. Pinch the skin up and thread the needle transversely downward, 0.3–0.5 cun, through the subcutaneous tissue, procerus and corrugator supercilii to the frontal periosteum, until a local ache with distension is felt.
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Large Intestine–Stomach meeting point beside the ala; the chief local point for the nose.
Patient sitting or supine. In the nasolabial groove at the level of the midpoint of the ala's outer border. Thread the needle transversely inward and upward, 0.5–1.0 cun, through the skin and subcutaneous fascia into levator labii superioris, until an ache with numbness spreads into the nose.
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Extra point at the top of the nasolabial groove; opens the nasal passages from the side.
Patient sitting or supine. At the upper end of the nasolabial groove, where the alar cartilage meets the nasal concha. Thread transversely upward, 0.5–0.8 cun, through the subcutaneous tissue into levator labii superioris alaeque nasi, near the facial artery and vein, until an ache with distension spreads into the nose.
Treatment Principle
Expel wind and benefit the nose and eyes; free the collaterals and relieve pain.
Method
With the patient sitting or supine, thread Yintang down toward the nose and Yingxiang and Shangyingxiang upward along the side of the nose, each until the sensation spreads into the nasal area.
⚠ Cautions
Shangyingxiang lies close to the facial artery and vein; press the site on withdrawal to prevent a bruise.
About
Three points framing the nose — one between the brows and two pairs along its sides — used together to open the nose, benefit the eyes and relieve pain in the area by clearing wind and freeing the fine collateral branches of the channels.
Rationale
Yingxiang, the last point of the Large Intestine channel, is a meeting point with the Stomach channel, which begins beside the nose; Shangyingxiang sits just above it at the top of the nasolabial groove; Yintang lies over the root of the nose on the path of the Governor Vessel. Together they line the nose from the bridge to the ala, and the threaded insertions carry the sensation into the nasal cavity itself.
Clinical Notes
The source's depths at Yingxiang (0.5–1.0 cun) and Shangyingxiang (0.5–0.8 cun) exceed the 0.2–0.5 and 0.3–0.5 cun in our point records; both are threaded transversely under the skin, not inserted deeply.
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 2, combination 11.
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