SP21

Dabao

Star

大包 (Dàbāo) — Great Embracement

Spleen channel · point 21

Not yet clinically reviewed

Great Luo-Connecting point of the Spleen

Traditionally used for

Cough & breathing

Cautions & contraindications

No deep needling

Location

On the lateral chest, on the mid-axillary line, in the sixth intercostal space.

How to locate: With the patient lying on the side and the arm raised, count down to the sixth intercostal space and follow it, allowing for its upward curve, to the midaxillary line; the point is often tender and lies roughly midway between the axilla and the level of the free end of the 11th rib.

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

Body map, front: SP21 · Chest — Fig. — SP21 · Chest After Albinus, 1747

The thorax, from in front — Gray's Anatomy plate — 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.

Needling

Cited needling

Transverse-oblique insertion — along the intercostal space

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. 204 Supports: techniques (names this point)

Site notes · not cited

No deep needling

Depth: 0.3–0.5 cun

Angle: Oblique or transverse

⚠ Cautions: Pneumothorax risk on deep perpendicular insertion.

Functions

Governs the blood of the whole body and the network vessels
Regulates qi and blood and relieves generalised pain
Unbinds the chest and benefits the sinews of the chest and flanks

Indications

Generalised aching of the whole bodyweakness of the limbschest and hypochondriac painasthma

Clinical Notes

The Great Luo of the Spleen, said to bind all the network vessels — the classical indication of pain everywhere with no single locus belongs here.

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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