Yinxi and Houxi
Star陰郄、後谿 (Yīnxì, Hòuxī)
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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Xi-Cleft point of the Heart; nourishes Heart yin, stops night sweating and calms the spirit.
Palm up: on the radial side of the flexor carpi ulnaris tendon, 0.5 cun above the wrist crease (0.5 cun proximal to HT7 on the HT7–HT3 line). Insert perpendicularly 0.3–0.5 cun from the radial edge of flexor carpi ulnaris through the deep fascia into the space between the ulnar nerve and the ulnar artery and vein. The sensation should be a local aching numbness that travels down the channel to the ring or little finger, or upward toward the axilla, head and chest.
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Shu-Stream point of the Small Intestine and confluent point of the Du Mai; clears the head and eyes and settles the spirit.
Loose fist: on the ulnar border of the hand, at the tip of the palmar crease that forms just proximal to the fifth metacarpophalangeal joint, where the dorsal and palmar skin meet. Insert perpendicularly, directed toward LI4, 0.5–0.8 cun, through abductor digiti minimi into the space between flexor digiti minimi brevis and the fifth metacarpal; the aching numbness should spread across the palm.
Treatment Principle
Benefit the head and eyes, and calm the spirit.
Indications
Method
HT6 is needled perpendicularly 0.3–0.5 cun at the wrist and SI3 perpendicularly toward LI4 0.5–0.8 cun. The book gives no retention time or moxibustion instructions for this pair.
⚠ Cautions
HT6 lies between the ulnar nerve and the ulnar artery: keep within the stated depth and stop manipulating once an electric sensation appears.
About
A pairing of the interiorly–exteriorly related Heart and Small Intestine channels, used for chest pain, night sweats and intermittent fevers, and for heat affecting the eyes and ears.
Rationale
The Heart (hand shaoyin) and Small Intestine (hand taiyang) channels are paired as interior and exterior. HT6 is the Xi-Cleft point of the Heart, used for acute pain and for yin-deficient heat with sweating at night; SI3 is the Shu-Stream point of the Small Intestine and the confluent point of the Du Mai, and its channel ascends to the eye and ear. The yin point cools and steadies the Heart from within, the yang point clears heat and wind from the head.
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 10.
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