Xuanlu and Hanyan
Star懸顱、頷厭 (Xuánlú, Hànyàn)
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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Clears wind and heat from the side of the head along the Gallbladder channel as it arcs around the ear.
Patient sitting or lying on the side. Find ST8 and GB7 first; GB5 is halfway along the curve that joins them, inside the temporal hairline. Insert transversely, 0.5–0.8 cun, through the subcutaneous tissue and temporal fascia into temporalis, until an ache with numbness is felt locally.
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Meeting point of the Gallbladder, Stomach and Triple Energiser channels; opens the channel toward the ear and relieves temporal headache.
Patient sitting or lying on the side. With ST8 and GB7 found, GB4 lies halfway between ST8 and GB5 — one quarter of the way down the curve from ST8 to GB7. Confirm it by having the patient chew: the point sits where the muscle moves under the finger. Insert transversely, 0.3–0.5 cun, through the subcutaneous tissue and temporal fascia into temporalis, to a local ache with numbness.
Treatment Principle
Benefit the ears, expel wind and free the flow in the channel.
Indications
Method
Needle both points on the affected side (or both sides) with the patient seated or side-lying, each transversely beneath the temporal scalp, seeking a local ache with numbness.
⚠ Cautions
The superficial temporal vessels run in this region; press the sites on withdrawal to prevent bruising.
About
Two adjacent points on the Gallbladder channel's arc through the temple, used as a local pair for the ear and for headache on the side of the head.
Rationale
The Gallbladder channel zigzags across the temporal region and then curves around the ear, and a branch of it enters the ear itself. Hanyan is also a meeting point with the Stomach and Triple Energiser channels, and the Triple Energiser channel also enters the ear. Needling two neighbouring points on the same curve concentrates the local effect on the temple while drawing on the channels that serve hearing.
Clinical Notes
The source's 0.5–0.8 cun for Xuanlu is longer than the 0.3–0.5 cun in our point record; both are acceptable for a transverse scalp insertion. Hanyan's name refers to the jaw, which is why the point moves with chewing.
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 2.
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