Verscienta
SP17

Shidou

Star

食竇 (Shídòu) — Food Cavity

Spleen channel · point 17

Not yet clinically reviewed

Traditionally used for

  • Digestion
  • Urinary & fluids

Cautions & contraindications

  • No deep needling

Location

On the anterior chest, in the fifth intercostal space, 6 cun lateral to the anterior midline; ST18 and KI22 lie along the same intercostal space.

How to locate: Count down the intercostal spaces from the clavicle or the sternal angle to the fifth, then follow it laterally, allowing for its upward curve, to 6 cun from the midline, about 2 cun lateral to the nipple line.

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

Body map, front: SP17 · Chest
Fig. — SP17 · Chest After Albinus, 1747
Body map, front: SP17 · Chest

SP17 · Chest · Albinus, Tabulae sceleti et musculorum, 1747

The thorax, from in front — Gray's Anatomy plate Needling hazard — see Needling safety
The thorax, from in front Gray's Anatomy, 1918
The thorax, from in front — Gray's Anatomy plate Needling hazard — see Needling safety

The thorax, from in front · Gray's Anatomy, 1918

3D view

3D view not available for this point: its position on the 3D model couldn't be checked against its location text, so it is not shown. 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
  1. Transverse-oblique insertion — along the intercostal space
    Depth 0.5–1 cun
    skindeeper
Reported mean safe needling depth, mm — Taiwanese adults (CT)
UnderweightNormalOverweight
Men 12.8 19.1 26.1
Women 18.3 28.0 33.4

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 7 (male) and 8 (female), chest 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 (Lung and pleura), p. 25 Supports: pneumothorax (names this region)
  3. Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K. A Manual of Acupuncture. Hove: Journal of Chinese Medicine Publications; 1998 — p. 201 Supports: techniques (names this point)

Site notes · not cited

  • No deep needling
Depth: 0.3–0.5 cun
Angle: Oblique or transverse along the intercostal space
⚠ Cautions: Do not needle perpendicularly and deeply — pneumothorax risk.

Functions

  • Regulates qi in the chest and relieves fullness
  • Harmonises the Stomach and relieves food stagnation
  • Promotes the movement of fluids and drains dampness

Indications

Chest and hypochondriac fullness and painbelching and regurgitationoedema

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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