GV2

Yaoshu

Star

腰俞 (Yāoshū) — Lumbar Shu

Du (Governing) channel · point 2

Not yet clinically reviewed

Traditionally used for

Bowel health
Menstrual & women's health
Nerves & recovery

Location

On the sacrum, on the posterior midline, at the sacral hiatus.

How to locate: With the patient prone, run a finger up the natal cleft from the tip of the coccyx; where the bone ends in a small notch between the two sacral cornua is the sacral hiatus, and the point lies in it on the midline.

Regional anatomy: The needle passes through the skin and subcutaneous tissue and the superficial dorsal sacrococcygeal ligament that covers the sacral hiatus, entering the lower sacral canal.

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

Body map, back: GV2 · Sacrum — Fig. — GV2 · Sacrum After Albinus, 1747

The vertebral column — Gray's Anatomy plate — 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: Oblique (45° to the skin), 0.5–1 cun, superior. Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K, p. 535

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

Oblique insertion — superior

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)

Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K. A Manual of Acupuncture. Hove: Journal of Chinese Medicine Publications; 1998 — p. 535 Supports: techniques (names this point)

Site notes · not cited

Depth: 0.5–1.0 cun

Angle: Oblique, directed superiorly

Functions

Strengthens the lower back and legs
Expels wind-damp
Warms the lower burner
Regulates menstruation
Settles epilepsy

Indications

Lumbosacral pain and stiffnessirregular menstruationhaemorrhoidsepilepsyweakness and paralysis of the lower limbs

Combinations Using This Point

Yaoshu and Yaoyangguan

GV2 with GV3 on the lower Du Mai — tonifies the Kidney, regulates menstruation and strengthens the lower back and legs.

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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