Verscienta
CV21

Xuanji

Star

璇璣 (Xuánjī) — Jade Pivot

Ren (Conception) channel · point 21

Not yet clinically reviewed

Traditionally used for

  • Nose & throat
  • Cough & breathing
  • Heart & circulation

Location

On the chest, on the anterior midline, 1 cun below CV22, in the centre of the manubrium.

Focks' Atlas of Acupuncture places it just below the upper border of the manubrium, immediately beneath the suprasternal fossa, rather than 1 cun below CV22.

How to locate: With the patient seated or supine, find CV22 in the centre of the suprasternal notch; the point is on the midline 1 cun below it, in the centre of the manubrium.

Regional anatomy: Skin and a thin subcutaneous layer directly over the periosteum of the manubrium of the sternum.

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

Body map, front: CV21 · Chest
Fig. — CV21 · Chest After Albinus, 1747
Body map, front: CV21 · Chest

CV21 · Chest · Albinus, Tabulae sceleti et musculorum, 1747

The thorax, from in front — Gray's Anatomy plate
The thorax, from in front Gray's Anatomy, 1918 Marker hidden while its position on this plate is re-checked.
The thorax, from in front — Gray's Anatomy plate

The thorax, from in front · Gray's Anatomy, 1918

3D view

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
From the suprasternal notch to the midpoint of the xiphisternal junction: 9 B-cun (WHO 2008, General Guidelines, Proportional Bone (Skeletal) Measurements, p. 12).
Needle angle and depth
  1. Transverse (parallel to the skin), 0.5–1 cun, directed inferiorly. Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K, p. 521

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.

Needling

Cited needling

  1. Transverse insertion — directed inferiorly
    Depth 0.5–1 cun
    skindeeper

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 (1)
  1. Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K. A Manual of Acupuncture. Hove: Journal of Chinese Medicine Publications; 1998 — p. 521 Supports: techniques (names this point)

Site notes · not cited

Depth: 0.3–0.5 cun
Angle: Transverse

Functions

  • Unbinds the chest
  • Descends Lung qi and benefits the throat
  • Resolves food stagnation in the chest

Indications

Cough and asthmasore throatchest pain and fullnessdifficulty swallowing

Combinations Using This Point

Shencang and Xuanji

KI25 and CV21 on the upper chest — a pairing to open the chest, regulate qi and quieten cough and wheezing.

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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