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LI-7 Warm Dwelling
温溜 〔溫溜〕 wēn liū
Alternate names: 池头 chí tóu, Pool's Head; 逆注 nì zhù, Counterflow Pouring; 蛇头 shé tóu, Snake Head
Channel: LI, hand yáng brightness (yáng míng) large intestine channel
Modern location: An acupoint located on the dorsoradial aspect of the forearm, on the lateral edge of the radius, 5 cùn proximal to the wrist (LI-5) on the line that connects LI-5 and LI-11.
Classical location: Back from the wrist five cùn on a tall person and six cùn on a short one. From
Local anatomy: The muscular branch of the radial artery, the cephalic vein. The posterior antebrachial cutaneous nerve and the deep ramus of the radial nerve.
Action: Clears evil heat; rectifies the stomach and intestines.
Modern indications: Headache;
Classical indications: Toothache and pain in the mouth and tongue; throat impediment (hóu bì); inability to lift the shoulder; belching; rumbling intestines and abdominal pain; clove sores (dīng chuāng) and welling-abscess (yōng); epilepsy; red, swollen face; swelling of the limbs; vomiting of drool; intestinal qì block.
Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.5‒0.8 cùn perpendicular insertion. Moxa: 3‒5 cones; pole 5‒10 min.
Point groups: Cleft (xī) point of the large intestine channel.
Point name meaning:
The character 溜 (liū), meaning to flow
, and the character 留 (liú), meaning to remain
or stay,
though clearly distinguished in modern writing, were much less so in classical Chinese. Without the three dots that indicate water, the character can mean to remain or stay.
The yáng ming channel is said to have copious qì (yáng), and if the latter character is substituted in the name of this cleft (xī) point it may then be taken as a reference to the warming yáng qì that gathers at this location. Thus the name can be rendered as Warm Dwelling.
The Sù Wèn says that the phenomenon of yīn and yáng existing simultaneously is called flowing (溜 (liū) ). Although this is usually taken to refer to the quality of the pulse in the Spring (when yīn and yáng both exist), it can also be a description of the hand yáng brightness (yáng míng) large intestine channel where both yīn (blood) and yáng (qì) are found in abundance. The point name can be seen as a reference to the warming flow of qì and blood through the yáng ming channel.
The alternate name Snake Head is a reference to the point’s location. The muscle at