屋翳 : Wuyi : Room Screen

Location Guides:

Classifications:

Trigger point (Travell & Simons, 1998, Trigger Point Manual; Melzack, Stillwell & Fox, 1977)
Homeostatic point 17 (Ma, Ma & Cho, 2005, Biomedical Acupuncture for Pain Management)

Location:

On the chest, in the second intercostal space, 4 cun lateral to the midline (Zigong Ren-19), on the mamillary line.

Needling:

Transverse-oblique insertion laterally or medially along the intercostal space 0.5 - 0.8 cun, or transverse insertion superiorly or inferiorly along the channel

Warnings:

Deep or perpendicular insertion carries a substantial risk of puncturing the lung

Classical Needling:

"The Yangming usually has much Qi and much Blood" (Su Wen 素問 ch. 24) implying this channel can normally be needled or bled.
"The foot Yangming is to be pierced 6 fen deep and remain inserted for ten exhalations" (Ling Shu 靈樞 ch. 12).
"Locate it with (the patient) lying supine. It is needled to a depth of four fen and moxaed with five cones" (Huangfu Mi 皇甫謐, 3rd Century, Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing 針灸甲乙經).

TCM Actions:

Descends rebellious Qi and unbinds the chest
Benefits the breasts
Alleviates pain and itching of the skin

TCM Indications:

• Cough, wheezing, dyspnoea, shortness of breath, coughing of pus and blood, distension and pain of the chest and lateral costal region.
  
• Breast pain, breast abscess.
  
• Pain of the skin making wearing of clothes unbearable, generalised itching, heaviness of the body, swollen body, pain and weakness of the limbs.

Neuroanatomy:

Superficial Innervation: Thoracic cutaneous nerves from T3 in the skin and and lateral pectoral nerve from C5 - C7 in the muscle

Dermatome Segment: T3

Trigger Point Associations:

Muscle:
Pectoralis major (sternal head) and pectoralis minor

Location Notes:
Pectoralis major is directly under the point while pectoralis minor would be located laterally

Pain Referral Pattern:
Across the chest and radiating down the medial aspect of the arm, especially around the elbow

Indications:
Sternoclavicular arthritis

Martial Applications & Effects of Injury:

Listed in the Wu Bei Zhi 武備志 (Treatise on Armament Technology) by Mao Yuanyi 茅元儀 (1621), Article 24: Bronze Man Statue, which divides the body into zones associated with the Twelve-Hour branches (Shichen 時辰) going from top downwards, the area between this point and Yingchuang St-16 is the vital point of Chen 辰 Dragon (7 - 9 am) and considered most vulnerable to a downward palm thrust during this time (McCarthy, 2016, Bubishi: The Classic Manual of Combat).

Stops the heart when used along with and at the same time struck as Yingchuang St-16 which is just below it. Both points can be struck with a palm strike (Montaigue, Dim Mak Locations, Taijiworld.com).

Major Combinations:

• Itching with much pain:
    Wuyi St-15 and Zhiyin Bl-67
    (Gao Wu, 高武, 1529: Bai Zheng Fu, 百症賦, Ode of a Hundred Symptoms).

Notes:

One of the 18 tender spots used in the diagnosis of fibromyalgia (Wang, Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medical Approaches for Fibromyalgia, Acupuncture Today, vol.6 no.3, 2005).

Needling around the nipple can stimulate the Jing (Magidoff, n.d.).

The Stomach Shu are a proposed set of points that complement the Breast Shu. They are level with the Chest Shu and Front Mu points on the abdomen and receive the Blood and Ying Qi created through the action of the Spleen and Lung, via the Breast Shu, to distribute among the Zangfu. Whereas the Back Shu and Chest Shu deliver Yang and Yin Yuan Qi through the Bladder and Kidney Channels to the Zangfu, these points are focused specifically on postnatal Qi.

This point would be associated with the Heart, with its indications being painful or itchy skin that the Su Wen ch. 74 says belongs to the Heart.

Avicenna describes cupping at this point in his treatise On Cupping:

"If the tissue around the cup swells up and the cup is stuck and difficult to remove, then apply a piece of warm-to-hot wet cloth or sponge around the cup mouth first. This happens often when cupping around the breast to prevent menorrhagia or nosebleed; for this reason the cup should not be placed on the breast itself. Once the location of the cupping has been rubbed with oil, make the slit quickly, and place the cup genthy without excessive pressure so that it can be quickly removed the first time." (Aspects of Treatment According to General Diseases, 22nd section in Abu-Asab, Amri & Micozzi, 2013, Avicenna's Medicine)

In Tibetan medicine:
Moxa and bleeding point (AMNH, Tibetan Medical Paintings)

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