Verscienta
GV11

Shendao

Star

神道 (Shéndào) — Spirit Pathway

Du (Governing) channel · point 11

Not yet clinically reviewed

Traditionally used for

  • Cough & breathing
  • Colds & fever
  • Sleep
  • Mood & calm
  • Nerves & recovery
  • Heart & circulation

Location

On the back, on the posterior midline, in the depression below the spinous process of T5.

How to locate: With the patient prone, count down from the prominent C7 spinous process at the base of the neck (or up two from T7, level with the inferior scapular angles); the point is in the midline depression below the spinous process of T5.

Regional anatomy: Beneath the skin and subcutaneous tissue the needle passes through the supraspinous and interspinous ligaments toward the ligamentum flavum; the spinal canal and cord lie beyond it.

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

Body map, back: GV11 · Upper back
Fig. — GV11 · Upper back After Albinus, 1747
Body map, back: GV11 · Upper back

GV11 · Upper back · Albinus, Tabulae sceleti et musculorum, 1747

The vertebral column — Gray's Anatomy plate Needling hazard — see Needling safety
The vertebral column Gray's Anatomy, 1918
The vertebral column — Gray's Anatomy plate Needling hazard — see Needling safety

The vertebral column · 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
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
  1. Oblique (45° to the skin), 0.5–1 cun, superior. Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K, p. 542
  • The spinal cord 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 spinal cord / medulla risk above still applies.

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

  • ⚠ Spinal cord / medulla
  1. Oblique insertion — superior
    Depth 0.5–1 cun
    skindeeper
Reported mean safe needling depth, mm — Taiwanese adults (CT)
UnderweightNormalOverweight
Men 36.5 43.0 48.6
Women 34.0 39.7 50.1

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)
  1. 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)
  2. World Health Organization. Guidelines on basic training and safety in acupuncture. Geneva: WHO; 1999. WHO/EDM/TRM/99.1 — Section II §5.2 (Central nervous system), p. 25 Supports: spinal cord / medulla (names this region)
  3. Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K. A Manual of Acupuncture. Hove: Journal of Chinese Medicine Publications; 1998 — p. 542 Supports: techniques (names this point)

Site notes · not cited

Depth: 0.5–1.0 cun
Angle: Oblique, directed superiorly

Functions

  • Calms the spirit and regulates the Heart
  • Tonifies the Heart and the Lung
  • Expels wind and clears heat

Indications

Anxiety, palpitations and poor memoryinsomniaepilepsycough and feverback stiffness

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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