GV14

Dazhui

Star

大椎 (Dàzhuī) — Great Hammer

Du (Governing) channel · point 14

Not yet clinically reviewed

Meeting point of the Du Mai with all six yang channels

Traditionally used for

Cough & breathing
Colds & fever
Nerves & recovery
Pain & joints
Skin

Cautions & contraindications

No deep needling

Location

On the posterior midline, in the depression below the spinous process of C7.

How to locate: With the patient seated, rest fingers on the two most prominent spinous processes at the base of the neck and have the patient tilt the head back: C6 glides forwards while C7 stays fixed. (Rotating the head with the neck slightly flexed, C7 can also be felt to turn while T1 does not.) The point is in the depression below C7.

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: GV14 · Upper back — Fig. — GV14 · Upper back After Albinus, 1747

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

Needling

Cited needling

⚠ Spinal cord / medulla

Perpendicular-oblique insertion — superior

Depth 0.5–1 cun

skindeeper

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

	Underweight	Normal	Overweight
Men	48.1	53.9	67.6
Women	43.5	52.1	63.7

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. Case reports: central nervous system injury after needling at this point (1 case in Wu et al. 2015).

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 (4)

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 (Central nervous system), p. 25 Supports: spinal cord / medulla (names this region)
Wu J, Hu Y, Zhu Y, Yin P, Litscher G, Xu S. Systematic review of adverse effects: a further step towards modernization of acupuncture in China. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015:432467 — Table 2 (Central nervous system injury associated with acupuncture) Supports: spinal cord / medulla (case report)
Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K. A Manual of Acupuncture. Hove: Journal of Chinese Medicine Publications; 1998 — p. 545 Supports: techniques (names this point)

Site notes · not cited

No deep needling

Depth: 0.5–1.0 cun

Angle: Oblique, directed superiorly

Bleeding technique: Pricking to bleed and cupping at GV14 is a standard treatment for high fever, acute sore throat and stubborn skin eruptions.

⚠ Cautions: Do not needle deeply or perpendicularly — the spinal cord lies beneath.

Functions

Clears heat and releases the exterior
Regulates the defensive qi and strengthens immunity
Clears the mind and settles convulsions
Tonifies qi and yang in deficiency
Regulates the Du Mai and benefits the neck

Indications

Fever of any kind — the primary heat-clearing point of the backcommon cold with chills and fevermalarial disordersneck and upper back pain and stiffnessepilepsy and convulsionsasthma and coughrecurrent infection and low immunityeczema and skin eruptionsmental agitation

Clinical Notes

Where all six yang channels meet the Du Mai, and therefore the most powerful single point for clearing heat and for raising yang.

Combinations Using This Point

Dazhui, Fengmen and Feishu

GV14, BL12 and BL13 across the upper back — expels wind, firms the exterior and restores the Lung's dispersing and descending.

Fengchi, Tianzhu and Dazhui

Fengchi, Tianzhu and Dazhui across the nape — a combination for wind invasion with headache and fever, stiff neck, cough and convulsions.

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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