Verscienta
GV3

Yaoyangguan

Star

腰陽關 (Yāoyángguān) — Lumbar Yang Pass

Du (Governing) channel · point 3

Not yet clinically reviewed

Traditionally used for

  • Bowel health
  • Menstrual & women's health
  • Fertility & vitality
  • Nerves & recovery
  • Pain & joints

Location

On the lower back, on the posterior midline, in the depression below the spinous process of L4.

How to locate: With the patient prone, join the highest points of the iliac crests; this line usually crosses the spinous process of L4 (it shifts with posture). The point is in the depression just below that spinous process on the midline, level with BL25.

Regional anatomy: Beneath the skin and subcutaneous tissue the needle passes through the supraspinous and interspinous ligaments toward the ligamentum flavum, which lies over the spinal canal.

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

Body map, back: GV3 · Lower back
Fig. — GV3 · Lower back After Albinus, 1747
Body map, back: GV3 · Lower back

GV3 · Lower back · 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

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. Perpendicular (90° to the skin), 0.5–1 cun. Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K, p. 536

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. Perpendicular insertion
    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. 536 Supports: techniques (names this point)

Site notes · not cited

Depth: 0.5–1.0 cun
Angle: Perpendicular or slightly oblique superiorly
Moxibustion: A principal point for warming moxibustion in cold-damp low back pain.

Functions

  • Warms and strengthens the lower back and knees
  • Expels wind, cold and dampness
  • Tonifies Kidney yang and strengthens original qi
  • Regulates qi in the lower burner
  • Benefits the lower limbs

Indications

Low back pain and stiffnessweakness and numbness of the legsimpotence and seminal emissionirregular menstruationdiarrhoea

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.

Shenshu, Mingmen and Yaoyangguan

BL23, GV4 and GV3 across the lumbar spine — supports original qi and strengthens the Kidney and lower back.

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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