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LR-13 Camphorwood Gate

章门 〔章門〕 zhāng mén

Alternate names: 长平 cháng píng, Long Level; 肪髎 fáng liáo, Lard Bone-Hole; 后章门 hòu zhāng mén, Rear Camphorwood Gate; 季肋 jì lèi, Free Ribs; 季胁 jì xié, Free Ribs; 脾募 pí mù, Spleen Alarm; 胁髎 xié liáo, Rib-Side Bone-Hole; 胁窌 xié liáo, Rib-Side Bone-Hole; 肘尖 zhǒu jiān, Tip of the Elbow

Channel: LR, foot reverting yīn (jué yīn) liver channel

Modern location: An acupoint located on the lateral aspect of the abdomen, approximately on the midaxillary line, immediately below the tip of the eleventh rib.

Classical location: In the region of the free ribs, two cùn above the navel and six cùn either side of the midline. The point is found with the patient on his side with the top leg bent and bottom leg extended. Also, the point is located where the tip of elbow touches. From The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (针灸大成 zhēn jiǔ dà chéng)

Local anatomy: The sixth intercostal artery and vein. The sixth intercostal nerve.

Action: Courses the liver and rectifies qì; quickens the blood and transforms stasis.

Modern indications: Abdominal distension; diarrhea; rib-side pain; glomus lump.

Classical indications: Cold strike throughflux diarrhea (dòng xiè); copious urine and white turbidity; cold and pain in the back and lumbar region; rib-side pain; propping fullness in the chest and rib-side; all types of accumulations, gatherings, and glomus lump; stone water; yellowing of the body and marked emaciation; heat vexation with no pleasure in eating; panting; heart pain and retching; irascibility; scantness of breath; reverse flow; inability to raise the arms and shoulders; saber scrofula; twitching of the body; shifted bladder with urinary stoppage; enduring jaundice developing into black jaundice; yellowing of the body with darkening of the forehead.

Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.6‒1.0 cùn perpendicular insertion. Moxa: 3 cones; pole 20‒50 min.

Needle sensation: Localized distension, sometimes extending towards the rear abdominal wall.

Point groups: Alarm point (mù xué) of the spleen; meeting (huì) point of the viscera; intersection point (jiāo huì xué) of the liver and gallbladder channels.

Point name meaning:

The character 章 (zhāng) was originally used to denote the camphor laurel tree and, by extension, any valuable lumber. This point is an intersection (jiāo huì) point of the two wood channels, as well as being the alarm (mù) point of the spleen (earth). It is the point where wood receives earth. In The Book of History (史记) it is stated that: When wood receives the virtue of earth, it becomes a thousand pieces of valuable lumber (木禀土德而成千章之材). Thus Camphorwood Door is one possible rendering of this point name.

The ideogram 章 (zhāng) can also be used to describe the flat area at the top of a hill. LR-13 is located just below the rib cage in an area that can be said to resemble this geological formation. The character 门 (mén), meaning gate, is in this case a metaphor for an acupuncture point.

章 (zhāng) can have the same meaning as 障 (zhàng), which represents a screen or veil. The rib cage screens the viscera and this point is like a gateway (门 mén) past that screen through which the physician can treat diseases of those organs. Thus the point name could also be rendered Screen Gate. In support of this interpretation is the Forty-fifth Difficulty in the Nàn Jīng, in which Camphorwood Gate (LR-13) is designated as the meeting (huì) point of the viscera. See acupoint names: origins, meanings, and translations.

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