BL15

Xinshu

Star

心俞 (Xīnshū) — Heart Shu

Bladder channel · point 15

Not yet clinically reviewed

Back-Shu point of the Heart

Traditionally used for

Cough & breathing
Sleep
Mood & calm
Nerves & recovery
Heart & circulation

Cautions & contraindications

No deep needling

Location

On the upper back, 1.5 cun lateral to the lower border of the spinous process of T5.

How to locate: Seat the patient leaning forward or lay them prone; count down from C7 (the most prominent spinous process at the base of the neck when the head is flexed) to T5 (two vertebrae below the level of the scapular spine); the point is 1.5 cun lateral to the lower edge of that spinous process, halfway to the medial border of the scapula.

Regional anatomy: Skin and subcutaneous tissue, then trapezius, rhomboid major and erector spinae; the pleura and lung lie beneath, so deep needling risks pneumothorax.

Distances are in cun, a proportional unit — how to measure.

Body map, back: BL15 · Upper back — Fig. — BL15 · Upper back After Albinus, 1747

The vertebral column — Gray's Anatomy plate — The vertebral column Gray's Anatomy, 1918

3D view

Drag, or focus the model and use the arrow keys, to rotate; + and − to zoom; 0 to reset; Esc to close.

Skin Skeleton

Needle diagram for the marked point — a schematic section through the skin, not the model.

Technique 1: Oblique (45° to the skin), 0.5–1 cun Direction (source's words): “towards the spine” Scale: 1 cun as WHO 2008 defines it here — Between the bilateral medial borders of the scapula: 6 B-cun; this scale is half of the 6 B-cun between the two medial borders (posterior midline to one border), 3 B-cun. Deadman gives depth in cun, conventionally the patient's own finger-cun. It is drawn here to this region's proportional (B-)cun, so the bar approximates an approximation. Not a depth in millimetres.

Technique 2: Transverse-oblique (about 20° to the skin), 1–1.5 cun Scale: 1 cun as WHO 2008 defines it here — Between the bilateral medial borders of the scapula: 6 B-cun; this scale is half of the 6 B-cun between the two medial borders (posterior midline to one border), 3 B-cun. Deadman gives depth in cun, conventionally the patient's own finger-cun. It is drawn here to this region's proportional (B-)cun, so the bar approximates an approximation. Not a depth in millimetres.

3D anatomy: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science licensed under CC Attribution 4.0 International (licence). Subset, simplified and recoloured by Verscienta — changes and licence details.

Approximate placement, carried over from our 2D body map onto a single adult male model (BodyParts3D) and checked against the point's location text. Shown on one side of the body. Locate the point on your patient by the location text and palpation, not by this model.

Cun on this part of the body: Between the bilateral medial borders of the scapula: 6 B-cun; this scale is half of the 6 B-cun between the two medial borders (posterior midline to one border), 3 B-cun (WHO 2008, General Guidelines, Proportional Bone (Skeletal) Measurements, p. 12).
Needle angle and depth: Oblique (45° to the skin), 0.5–1 cun, towards the spine. Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K, p. 270
Transverse-oblique (about 20° to the skin), 1–1.5 cun. Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K, p. 270

The lung is not drawn: the anatomical model used here does not include it as a surface. This is a limit of the model, not of the anatomy. The pneumothorax risk above still applies.

Needling

Cited needling

⚠ Pneumothorax

Techniques — the source gives these as alternatives:

Oblique insertion — towards the spine

Depth 0.5–1 cun

skindeeper
Transverse-oblique insertion

Depth 1–1.5 cun

skindeeper

Reported mean safe needling depth, mm — Taiwanese adults (CT)

	Underweight	Normal	Overweight
Men	42.7	45.4	50.4
Women	36.3	39.7	49.1

CT-measured mean safe needling depths from Taiwanese adults, by sex and body size (Lin et al. 2013); population-specific and a guide only — adjust to the patient in front of you.

Depths describe average adult habitus in the cited population, never a single safe number for the patient in front of you. Palpate and adjust.

Sources (3)

Lin JG, Chou PC, Chu HY. An exploration of the needling depth in acupuncture: the safe needling depth and the needling depth of clinical efficacy. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:740508 — Tables 9 (male) and 10 (female), back acupoints Supports: safe depth (measured)
World Health Organization. Guidelines on basic training and safety in acupuncture. Geneva: WHO; 1999. WHO/EDM/TRM/99.1 — Section II §5.2 (Lung and pleura), p. 25 Supports: pneumothorax (names this region)
Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K. A Manual of Acupuncture. Hove: Journal of Chinese Medicine Publications; 1998 — p. 270 Supports: techniques (names this point)

Site notes · not cited

No deep needling

Depth: 0.5–0.8 cun

Angle: Oblique, directed medially

⚠ Cautions: Pneumothorax risk on deep perpendicular insertion.

Functions

Tonifies and regulates the Heart
Unbinds the chest and dispels blood stasis
Calms the spirit and settles the mind
Nourishes blood and clears Heart fire

Indications

Palpitations, anxiety and panicinsomnia and excessive dreamingpoor memory and difficulty concentratingcardiac pain and anginamania and epilepsynight sweatscoughing of blood

Clinical Notes

With HT7 and BL44 (Shentang), the core of the classical prescription for a disturbed spirit.

Combinations Using This Point

Lingtai, Shendao and Xinshu

GV10, GV11 and BL15 at the level of the Heart — regulates qi and blood, frees the channel, supports the Heart and calms the spirit.

Sources

World Health Organization. WHO Standard Acupuncture Point Locations in the Western Pacific Region. Manila: WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, 2008. (Location.)
Focks C, ed. Atlas of Acupuncture. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, 2008. (Locating method and actions.)

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