Verscienta
BL27

Xiaochangshu

Star

小腸俞 (Xiǎochángshū) — Small Intestine Shu

Bladder channel · point 27

Not yet clinically reviewed

Back-Shu point of the Small Intestine

Traditionally used for

  • Digestion
  • Bowel health
  • Urinary & fluids
  • Menstrual & women's health
  • Pain & joints

Location

On the sacrum, 1.5 cun lateral to the midline, level with the first posterior sacral foramen and BL31.

How to locate: With the patient prone, find the posterior superior iliac spine by palpating about one handbreadth up and out at 45 degrees from the top of the gluteal cleft until a distinct bony ridge is felt, often marked by a skin dimple. The spine is level with the second posterior sacral foramen; move up one foramen. The point is 1.5 cun lateral to the median sacral crest at the level of the first foramen, slightly above and medial to the iliac spine.

Regional anatomy: Skin, subcutaneous tissue and the thoracolumbar aponeurosis, then the sacral origin of erector spinae, at the medial edge of gluteus maximus.

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

Body map, back: BL27 · Sacrum
Fig. — BL27 · Sacrum After Albinus, 1747
Body map, back: BL27 · Sacrum

BL27 · Sacrum · Albinus, Tabulae sceleti et musculorum, 1747

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

The vertebral column · Gray's Anatomy, 1918

3D view

3D view not available for this point: its position on the 3D model couldn't be checked against its location text, so it is not shown. The 2D maps above show it.

Needling

Cited needling

  • Pregnancy: contraindicated
  1. Perpendicular insertion
    Depth 0.5–1 cun
    skindeeper

Traditionally forbidden in pregnancy (at least before 37 weeks). Carr (2015) reviewed the trials and found no objective evidence of harm from needling these points; the prohibition is traditional, not evidence-based.

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)
  1. Carr DJ. The safety of obstetric acupuncture: forbidden points revisited. Acupunct Med. 2015;33(5):413-419 — Identifying sources of concern and relevant outcomes Supports: pregnancy (names this point)
  2. World Health Organization. Guidelines on basic training and safety in acupuncture. Geneva: WHO; 1999. WHO/EDM/TRM/99.1 — Section II §2.1 (Pregnancy), p. 20 Supports: pregnancy (names this region)
  3. Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K. A Manual of Acupuncture. Hove: Journal of Chinese Medicine Publications; 1998 — p. 289 Supports: techniques (names this point)

Site notes · not cited

Depth: 0.8–1.2 cun
Angle: Perpendicular

Functions

  • Regulates and tonifies the Small Intestine and separates the clear from the turbid
  • Drains dampness and clears damp-heat from the lower burner
  • Regulates the water passages

Indications

Lower abdominal pain and distensiondiarrhoea and dysenterydifficult and painful urinationvaginal dischargesacral and lumbar painhaemorrhoids

Combinations Using This Point

Xiaochangshu and Baihuanshu

BL27 with BL30 on the sacrum — regulates the lower burner, the intestines and the bladder, and eases lower-back and knee weakness.

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.)

📝 Notes

Public notes from the community and your own private notes on BL27 Xiaochangshu.

No notes yet.

Log in or register to add your own notes.

Back to Points