List of acupuncture points

More than four hundred acupuncture points have been described, with the majority located on one of the main meridians, pathways which run throughout the body and according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) transport life energy (qi, 氣). TCM recognizes twenty meridians, cutaneous and subcutaneous in nature, which have branching sub-meridians believed to affect surrounding tissues. Twelve of these major meridians, commonly referred to as "the primary meridians", are bilateral and are associated 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".[1]

Although many hypotheses have been proposed, the anatomical and physiological basis for acupuncture points and meridians remains elusive.[2] Hypotheses include neural signaling, with possible involvement of opioid peptides, glutamate, and adenosine, and correspondence to responsive parts in the central nervous system; or mechanical signaling, with involvement of connective tissue (fascia), and mechanical wave activation of the calcium ion channel to beta-endorphin secretion.[3] In practice, acupuncture points are located by a combination of anatomical landmarks, palpation, and feedback from the patient.[1]

In east Asian countries practitioners commonly refer to acupuncture points by their traditional names. Some points have several names. When acupuncture was adopted in the western world, a standard nomenclature was developed to unambiguously identify the acupuncture points on meridians. This model achieved wide acceptance and today virtually every book on acupuncture refers to acupuncture points using it. The World Health Organization (WHO) published A Proposed Standard International Acupuncture Nomenclature Report in 1991, listing 361 classical acupuncture points organized according to the fourteen meridians, eight extra meridians, 48 extra points, and scalp acupuncture points,[5] and published Standard Acupuncture Nomenclature in 1993, focused on the 361 classical acupuncture points.[6] 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, tài yuān (太渊) or gui xin (鬼心), two names used for this same point. The only glitch with this unique systemized method can be found 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 standard 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.[1]

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.

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".

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

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

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".

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".

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.

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".

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".

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".

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".

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

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

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

There is no agreed-on naming scheme for extra points on the body.

This first table follows the numbering scheme of Peter Deadman.[1]

This second table names meridians as they appear in the table.