Acupuncture Point St-34: Liangqiu (梁丘, Ridge Mound)

Location Guides:

Classifications:

Location:

On the thigh, on a line drawn between the lateral border of the patella and the ASIS, in a depression 2 cun proximal to the superior border of the patella.

Needling:

Perpendicular or oblique insertion 1 - 1.5 cun

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).
"It is needled to a depth of three fen and moxaed with three cones" (Huangfu Mi 皇甫謐, 3rd Century, Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing 針灸甲乙經).

TCM Actions:

Activates the channel and alleviates pain
Harmonises the Stomach and alleviates pain
Moderates acute conditions

TCM Indications:

Swelling and pain of the knee, difficulty in flexing and extending the knee, pain of the knee and leg, Crane's Knee Wind, difficulty in walking, Painful Obstruction (痹, Bi) of the shin, cold Painful Obstruction (痹, Bi) with numbness, cold of the legs and feet, lumbar pain.
Epigastric pain, acid regurgitation, breast abscess, pain and swelling of the breast, 'big fright'.

Neuroanatomy:

Superficial Innervation: Intermediate femoral cutaneous nerve of the thigh from L2 - L4

Dermatome Segment: L3

Martial Applications & Effects of Injury:

As a Xi-cleft point where accumulates, striking it causes loss of power due to a hindrance of Qi and Blood. Local pain and loss of leg power is immediately apparent (Montaigue, Dim Mak Locations, Taijiworld.com).

Major Combinations:

Breast abscess:
Liangqiu St-34 with Diwuhui GB-42
(Wang Zhizhong, 王執中, 1220: Zhen Jiu Zi Sheng Jing, 針灸資生經, Classic of Supporting Life with Acupuncture and Moxibustion).
Contracted sinews with difficulty in flexing and extending the knee, and inability to walk:
Liangqiu St-34 with Ququan Liv-8 and Xiyangguan GB-33
(Sun Simiao, 孫思邈, 625: Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang, 備急千金要方, Essential Prescriptions Worth A Thousand Gold).
Acute epigastric pain:
Liangqiu St-34 with Lianmen St-21 (Deadman, Al-Khafaji and Baker, 2001, A Manual of Acupuncture).
Stiffness, soreness and pain of the knee:
Liangqiu St-34 with Xuehai Sp-10, Xiyan Ex-Le-5, Yanglingquan GB-34 and Yinlingquan Sp-9 (Deadman, Al-Khafaji and Baker, 2001, A Manual of Acupuncture).

I Ching Hexagram:

䷑ Gu 蠱 Decaying, cursed, poison

蠱 (gu) is composed of:

蟲 (chong) — worms, insects, venomous creatures

皿 (min) — a vessel, a bowl, a container

The original image is insects in a sealed vessel. This refers to an ancient practice: poisonous insects were placed together in a container and left to devour one another. The survivor, having absorbed all the poisons of the others, was considered the most potent. This creature was called 蠱, and it was used in curses, black magic, and poisoning, to devour its target from within.

Trigrams: Xun (Wind) below, Gen (Mountain) above.

Penetration within, stillness without — wind beneath the mountain. The wind is trapped and cannot circulate. What is sealed inside begins to fester. This is gu: poison, curse, decay. Something alive and harmful is trapped within, consuming from within.

Nuclear trigrams: Lines 2-3-4 form Dui (Lake). Lines 3-4-5 form Zhen (Thunder). Beneath the decay, there is joy (Dui) and movement (Zhen). The hidden message: the poison is alive. It is not passive rot. It is active, working, consuming. But the joy and movement also mean it can be transformed.

Judgement:
蠱：元亨，利涉大川。先甲三日，後甲三日。
Gu. Sublime success. Favourable to cross the great river. Before the first day, three days; after the first day, three days.

Gu is poison, curse, decay — something alive and harmful trapped within. But it can be purified. The work requires courage (crossing the great river) and understanding (the full cycle of before and after). What has been cursed can be transformed.

Lines:

Line	Yin/Yang	Image	Literal Translation	Commentary
1	Yin	幹父之蟶，有子，考無咎，厲終吉	Working on the father's gu. There is a son. The deceased father has no trouble. Danger, but in the end Gain.	Yin at the bottom. The beginning of purification. The poison inherited from the ancestors. The son takes on the work that the father left. The father is not blamed — the son purifies. Danger because the poison is real. In the end, Gain because the purification succeeds.
2	Yang	幹母之蟶，不可貞	Working on the mother's gu. Cannot be persevered.	Yang at 2, central and correct. The mother's poison is different from the father's. It requires gentleness, not firmness. "Cannot be persevered" means: do not apply the same method. The poison of the mother is subtler, more insidious. It must be coaxed out, not forced.
3	Yang	幹父之蟶，小有悔，無大咎	Working on the father's gu. Small remorse, no great trouble.	The threshold. The work of purification is difficult. The poison resists. There is small remorse — perhaps the method was too harsh. But no great trouble, because the intention was correct.
4	Yin	裕父之蟶，往見吝	Indulging the father's gu. Going brings Regret.	Yin at 4. The first yin line above the threshold. Instead of purifying the poison, it feeds it. This is the danger of denial — of pretending the curse is not there. Going on brings Regret because the poison grows stronger.
5	Yin	幹父之蟶，用誉	Working on the father's gu, using praise.	Yin at 5, the place of honour. But it is yin — the one who purifies through praise and recognition rather than through force. This is the correct way: not by condemning the past, but by honouring what was good in it. The ancestor is recognised, and the curse is lifted through that recognition.
6	Yang	不事王侯，高尚其事	Not serving kings and lords, highly esteeming one's own affairs.	Yang at the top. The purification is complete. The one who has purified the poison no longer serves the system that created it. He esteems his own affairs — he has gone beyond. This is the sage who has cured the curse and now lives outside the cycle of decay.

Image:
山下有風，蠱。君子以振民育德。
Wind beneath the mountain: Gu. Thus the gentleman stirs the people and nourishes virtue.

Wind is beneath the mountain — the air is trapped and stagnant. This is the sealed vessel where the poison breeds. The gentleman stirs the people (振民, zhen min) and nourishes virtue (育德, yu de). The work of purification is not just fixing what is broken. It is revitalizing what has become stagnant and cultivating the virtue that prevents future decay. You do not just purge the poison — you create the conditions where poison cannot breed again.

Acupuncture Point Connections:

Shared with Diji Sp-8.
Inverted into and balanced by ䷐ (Sanjian LI-3 or Shaoshang Lu-11).

Hexagram attributions are my own with an explanation given in the glossary.

Notes:

The Hexagram associated with this point is ䷑ 蠱 Gu, referring to a worm or insect that causes spoilage and was used as a means of cursing enemies. This point's grouping as a Xi-Cleft point on the Stomach channel gives it actions on acute gastrointestinal symptoms common in Gu illness.

In Mayan medicine:
Used for pain in the feet and legs (Garcia, Sierra, Balam, 1999: Wind in the Blood)

In ayurvedic medicine:
Ani marma point
Size: 1/2 angula (cun)
Structure: Tendon
Effect of Injury: Disability (vaikalyakar marma)
(Harish Johari, 1996, Ayurvedic Massage, Sanatan Society; Anupama Bhattacharya, n.d. Marma Shastra)

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

In Thai massage:
Point along the Itha (left) and Pingala (right) sen lines running from the navel Shenque Ren-8 to this point where it turns to the back of the knee Weizhong Bl-40.
Also point along the Sahatsarangsi (left) and Tawaree (right) sen lines ascending up the outer leg to the chest and terminating in the eyes Chengqi St-1.
Indicated for knee pain/injury/arthritis.
(Salguero & Roylance, 2011, Encyclopedia of Thai Massage)

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

梁 丘  : Liangqiu : Ridge Mound

St-34 : Foot Yangming Stomach 34