SI14

Jianwaishu

Star

肩外俞 (Jiānwàishū) — Outer Shoulder Shu

Small Intestine channel · point 14

Not yet clinically reviewed

Traditionally used for

Pain & joints

Cautions & contraindications

No deep needling

Location

On the upper back, 3 cun lateral to the lower border of the spinous process of T1, on the vertical line of the medial end of the scapular spine; level with BL11 and GV13.

How to locate: Find the lower border of the T1 spinous process (level with GV13 and BL11) and measure 3 cun laterally, in line with the medial end of the scapular spine; the point is off the scapula, just above its superior angle, over the often tender levator scapulae insertion.

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

Body map, back: SI14 · Upper back — Fig. — SI14 · Upper back After Albinus, 1747

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

3D view

3D view not available for this point: its position can't be carried onto the 3D model reliably (it failed a placement check). The 2D maps above show it.

The lung 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 pneumothorax risk above still applies.

Needling

Cited needling

⚠ Pneumothorax

Oblique insertion — medial

Depth 0.5–1 cun

skindeeper

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

	Underweight	Normal	Overweight
Men	50.0	53.9	60.5
Women	38.5	49.1	55.7

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.

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)

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 (Lung and pleura), p. 25 Supports: pneumothorax (names this region)
Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K. A Manual of Acupuncture. Hove: Journal of Chinese Medicine Publications; 1998 — p. 244 Supports: techniques (names this point)

Site notes · not cited

No deep needling

Depth: 0.3–0.5 cun

Angle: Oblique, directed medially

⚠ Cautions: Deep perpendicular needling risks pneumothorax.

Functions

Expels wind and cold from the neck and shoulder
Activates the channel

Indications

Stiff neck and shoulder painpain of the upper backcold in the shoulder

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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