List of acupuncture points

System of main meridians with acupuncture point locations

This article provides a comprehensive list of acupuncture points, locations on the body used in acupuncture, acupressure, and other treatment systems based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

Locations and basis

More than four hundred acupuncture points have been described, with the majority located on one of the twenty main cutaneous and subcutaneous meridians, pathways which run throughout the body and according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) transport qi (氣). Twelve of these major meridians, commonly referred to as "the primary meridians", are bilateral and practitioners associate them with internal organs. The remaining eight meridians are designated as "extraordinary", and are also bilateral except for three, one that encircles the body near the waist, and two that run along the midline of the body. Only those two extraordinary meridians that run along the midline contain their own points, the remaining six comprise points from the aforementioned twelve primary meridians. There are also points that are not located on the fourteen major meridians but do lie in the complete nexus referred to as jing luo (經絡). Such outliers are often referred to as "extra points".

There is no anatomical and physiological basis for acupuncture points and meridians. In practice, acupuncture points are located by a combination of anatomical landmarks, palpation, and feedback from the patient.

Twelve Primary Meridians

Eight Extraordinary Meridians

The eight extraordinary meridians (simplified Chinese: 奇经八脉; traditional Chinese: 奇經八脈; pinyin: qí jīng bā mài) are of pivotal importance in the study of Qigong (氣功; Chi kung), T'ai chi ch'uan (太極拳), and Chinese alchemy. Though many are listed, only the Governing Vessel and the Conception Vessel meridians have points not associated with the previous 12 meridians.

Nomenclature

Some acupuncture points have several traditional names, for example tài yuān (太渊) and gui xin (鬼心) are two names used for the 9th acupuncture point on the lung meridian. The World Health Organization (WHO) published A Proposed Standard International Acupuncture Nomenclature Report in 1991 and 2014, listing 361 classical acupuncture points organized according to the fourteen meridians, eight extra meridians, 48 extra points, and scalp acupuncture points, and published Standard Acupuncture Nomenclature in 1993, focused on the 361 classical acupuncture points. Each acupuncture point is identified by the meridian on which it is located and its number in the point sequence on that channel. For example, Lu-9 identifies the 9th acupuncture point on the lung meridian. The only ambiguity with this unique systemized method is on the urinary bladder meridian, where the outer line of 14 points found on the back near the spine are inserted in one of two ways; following the last point of the inner line along the spine (會陽) and resuming with the point found in the crease of the buttocks (承扶), or following the point in the center of the crease of the knee (委中) and resuming with the point just below that (合陽), found in the bifurcation of the gastrocnemius muscle. Although classification of the extra points often tries to utilize a similar shortcut method, where a numbered sequence along an assigned body part is used, there is no commonly agreed-upon system and therefore universal identification of these points relies on the original naming system of traditional Chinese characters.

The tables in this article follow the WHO numbering scheme to identify the acupuncture points of the main channels. For extra points the tables follow the numbering scheme found in A Manual of Acupuncture.

Lung meridian

Abbreviated as LU, named 手太阴肺经穴; 手太陰肺經 "The Lung channel of Hand, Greater Yin". This refers to the meridian starting in the arm, the lung's association with yin, and that it is considered more easy to find.

Large intestine meridian

Abbreviated as LI or CO (colon), named 手阳明大肠经穴; 手陽明大腸經 "The Large Intestine channel of Hand, Yang Bright".

Stomach meridian

Abbreviated as ST, named 足阳明胃经穴; 足陽明胃經 "The Stomach channel of Foot, Yang Bright".

Spleen meridian

Abbreviated as SP, named 足太阴睥经穴; 足太陰脾經 "The Spleen channel of Foot, Greater Yin".

Heart meridian

Abbreviated as HE, HT or H, named 手少阴心经穴; 手少陰心經 "The Heart channel of Hand, Lesser Yin".

Small intestine meridian

Abbreviated as SI, named 手太阳小肠经穴; 手太陽小腸經 "The Small Intestine channel of Hand, Greater Yang".

Bladder meridian

Abbreviated as BL or UB (urinary bladder), described in Chinese as 足太阳膀胱经穴; 足太陽膀胱經 "The Bladder channel of Foot, Greater Yang".

An alternative numbering scheme for the "appended part" (beginning with Bl-41 in the list below), which places the outer line along the spine after Bl-35 (會陽) instead of Bl-40 (委中), will be noted in the Alternative names column.

Kidney meridian

Abbreviated as KI or K, described in Chinese as 足少阴肾经穴 or 足少陰腎經 "The Kidney channel of Foot, Lesser Yin".

Pericardium meridian

Abbreviated as PC or P, named 手厥阴心包经穴; 手厥陰心包經 "The Pericardium channel of Hand, Faint Yin".

Triple burner meridian

Also known as San Jiao, triple-heater, triple-warmer or triple-energizer, abbreviated as TB or SJ or TE and named 手少阳三焦经穴; 手少陽三焦經 "The Sanjiao channel of Hand, Lesser Yang".

Gallbladder meridian

Abbreviated as GB, this meridian is named 足少阳胆经穴; 足少陽膽經 "The Gallbladder channel of Foot, Lesser Yang".

Liver meridian

Abbreviated as LR or LV, named 足厥阴肝经穴; 足厥陰肝經 "The Liver channel of Foot, Faint Yin".

Governing vessel

Also known as Du, abbreviated as GV and named 督脉穴; 督脈 "The Governing Vessel".

Conception vessel

Also known as Ren, Directing Vessel, abbreviated as CV and named 任脉穴; 任脈 "The Conception Vessel".