: Fuliu : Returning Current

Kid-7 : Foot Shaoyin Kidney 7

Alternative Name: Changyang 昌陽, Fu Bai 伏白
Translations: Shining Yang, Concealed White

Classifications:

Jing-River and Metal Point
Mother point of the Kidney channel

Trigger point (Melzack, Stillwell & Fox, 1977, Trigger Points and Acupuncture Points for Pain: Correlations and Implications, Pain 3, p3-23)


Location:

On the medial aspect of the lower leg, in the depression 2 cun superior to Taixi Kid-3, on the anterior border of the Achilles tendon.

Needling:

Perpendicular insertion 0.5 - 1 cun

Classical Needling:

It is needled to a depth of three fen, (the needle) is retained for a duration of three exhalations, and it is moxaed with five cones. (Huangfu Mi 皇甫謐, 3rd Century, Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing 針灸甲乙經)


TCM Actions:

Benefits the Kidneys
Regulates the water passages and treats oedema
Regulates sweating
Drains Damp and clears Damp-heat
Strengthens the lumbar region

TCM Indications:

  • Oedema, the five types of oedema, swelling of the four limbs with drum distension, swelling of the lower limb, difficult urination, dark urine, the five types of painful urinary dysfunction, blood painful urinary dysfunction.
  • Spontaneous sweating, night sweating, ceaseless sweating, fever with absence of sweating.
  • Diarrhoea, distension of the abdomen with borborygmus, dystenteric disorder, pus and blood in the stool, heavy feeling in the rectum after diarrhoea, bleeding haemorrhoids, constipation.
  • Dry tongue and parched mouth, dry tongue with Stomach heat, curled tongue with inability to speak, pain in the nostrils, nosebleed, tooth decay, withered yellow complexion, propensity to anger with incessant talking, propensity to laughter.
  • Seminal emission, menorrhagia, uterine bleeding.
  • Pain of the lumbar region, lumbar pain due to qi stagnation, atrophy disorder of the leg, cold legs, pulseless syndrome, cold and hot bones.

Neuroanatomy:

Superficial Innervation: Saphenous nerve (L3 - L4)
Dermatome Segment: S1
Deeper Structures: Tibial nerve (L5 - S2)


Trigger Point Associations:

Muscle:
Soleus

Myotome Innervation:
Tibial nerve (L5 - S2)

Pain Referral Pattern:
Radiating down the Achilles tendon to the calcaneus at the heel of the foot

Indications:
Tendon and muscle strains of the lower leg ; Periostitis of the calcaneus

Martial Applications & Effects of Injury:

Striking damages the
Kidney Jing causing an immediate rising of Heat into the head which can cause knock out or extreme nausea and possible damage later in life. It also affects the Lungs, draining energy from the body (Montaigue, Dim Mak Locations, Taijiworld.com).

Major Combinations:



I Ching Hexagram:

Hexagram attributions are my own based with an explanation given in the notes below.



Notes:

One of the foremost points for strengthening the kidney functions of controlling water balance, including oedema, sweating and urination. Hence it is indicated for all problems of Kidney Yin Deficiency, whereas Taixi Kid-3 has stronger indication where there is also an element of Yang Deficiency.



In five element acupuncture this point is reinforced to tonify Kidney deficiencies.



Su Wen Ch. 41 describes lower back ache with pain pulling on the breast and unclear eyes as being due to disease in the "Shining Yang". In severe cases they bend backwards and their tongue curls up and they cannot speak. It recommends piercing twice above the inner ankle, in front of the large sinew behind the Taiyin. Ma Shi's commentary describes this as an alternative name for this point and Wang Bing equates it with the Yin Qiao Mai.

Ling Shu Ch. 6 suggests piercing the Jing points of the Yin channels if a disease is in the Yin of the Yang realm (e.g. the sinews and bones). This would mean using this point to treat disorders of the hip, knee and ankle.

Ch. 7 then suggests using paired needles either side of the tendon to remove a tendon blockage illness, and straight needling to the bone for bone blockage illness. This could be interpreted as using these technique on this point, on either side of the achilles in incidences of injury to this tendon or straight in cases of bone injury, or using them as local techniques while Ch. 6 is a distal point suggestion.

Ling Shu Ch. 22, On Mania and Madness, advises that when Wind invasion and counterflow causes the limbs to become swollen, profuse sweating, a feeling of cold and to be irritated when hungry, then blood is removed from the outer and inner sections of the hand Taiyin and foot Shaoyin and Yangming. If the flesh is cool then it is be done through the Ying-Spring points and if the bones are cold it is to be done through the Jing-Well and Jing-River points.

Ling Shu Ch. 44, On the Qi Moving in Accordance with the Norms, indicates that the Jing-River points should be pierced in late summer or when the disease affects the voice. The seasonal aspect should not be interpreted literally as it describes the voice and musical notes as "controlled by late summer". It also describes the morning, afternoon, evening and night cycle of the day to be like the four seasons of the year although late summer is not included in this comparison but presumably has some correlate (maybe late afternoon).



Shang Han Lun, line 292, advises using seven cones of moxa on Shaoyin if the pulse fails to arrive normally in a Shaoyin pattern with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea, absence of counterflow but presence of heat effusion. No points are given but Ke Qin suggests this point and Yongquan Kid-1 while Zhang Nan suggests Taixi Kid-3 (Mitchell, Ye and Wiseman, 1999, Shang Han Lun).



In Tung acupuncture this point is called Guangming, Bright Light (77.28), and is indicated for all eye disorders, especially if combined with Shui Xiang, Tung's name for Taixi Kid-3 (Chu, 2015).



In Tibetan medicine:
Bleeding point (AMNH, Tibetan Medical Paintings)

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There are no direct classical attributions of the points to I Ching hexagrams in the Nei Jing or other classical sources to my knowledge, but rather it is implied within the schema of the elements so the ones given are my own and a work in progress. Other sources may differ.

They are based on the channel having the outer trigram and the point having the inner as the point is internal to the channel itself.
  • Channels are assigned the trigram of their element and cardinal direction
  • Ren and Du are assigned ☰ Qian, Heaven and ☷ Kun, Earth respectively
  • Earth is assigned to ☶ Gen, Mountain
  • Pericardium and San Jiao are assigned to ☴ Xun, Wind
This places the regular channels associated with the four directions at their four cardinal points and means that every channel's complement is also its Six Division pair. It is almost identical to the I Ching Acupuncture arrangement by Dr Chen but with Shaoyang/Jueyin pairs reversed so that the Wood organs are in the cardinal east and Ministerial Fire is associated with Wind, as Wood turns to Fire.

The points themselves are arranged by:
  • Elemental points are assigned their element
  • Source points are attributed ☷ Kun, Earth, for Zang and ☰ Qian, Heaven, for Fu, as Yin and Yang are the Source of the Zang and Fu respectively
  • Luo points are attributed the opposite as they connect with their Yin-Yang opposite paired organ.
  • This leaves Xi-Cleft points which are assigned ☴ Xun, Wind, for their effect on acute disorders, with their complementary pairing being ☳ Zhen, Wood, the Jing-Well (Yin) and Shu-Stream point (Yang) which both deal with acute phases of disease.
  • Back-Shu and Front-Mu points are assigned Qian and Kun respectively on the top due to their close association with the Du and Ren and their organ element is placed at the bottom, making them naturally pair with each other, as in Su Wen, ch. 47 that suggests treating them together.
  • The gates of the Microcosmic Orbit on the Du and Ren follow the Waxing and Waning Hexagrams.
This enables them to be paired with points that share the same hexagram, their complementary opposite, or with its reverse which is the following or preceding hexagram in the King Wen sequence. Points can therefore be selected based on sharing a hexagram, their complementary opposite, or King Wen pairings in order to supplement or reduce a pathological state.

Reference Notes:

Basic information on location, needle depth, TCM actions, indications and combinations is taken from Deadman et al (2001): A Manual of Acupuncture with additional anatomical information researched by reference to Gray's Anatomy (38th Ed., 1995) unless otherwise referenced. Images were found on acupunctureschoolonline.com and can be traced back to Claudia Focks (2008) Atlas of Acupuncture originally. I cannot claim any credit or rights over them. Other sources should be quoted in the text.

For some of the more unusual terms I have created a glossary here