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Alternate names: 小吉 xiǎo jí, Small Propitiousness

Channel: SI, hand greater yáng (tài yáng) small intestine channel

Modern location: An acupoint located a little more than 1 fēn below the base of the nail on the ulnar side of the little finger. XXX

Classical location: On the outer side of the little finger, in the depression one fēn from the corner of the nail. From The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (针灸大成 zhēn jiǔ dà chéng)

Local anatomy: The arterial and venous network formed by the palmar digital proprial artery and vein and the dorsal digital artery and vein.

Action: Clears heart fire; disperses depressed heat; frees the channels and quickens the network vessels; opens the orifices; disinhibits breast milk.

Modern indications: Headache; eye screens; painful swollen throat; febrile disease; clouding reversal (loss of consciousness); mammary welling-abscess (rǔ yōng); scant breast milk.

Classical indications: Heat effusion and aversion to cold with absence of sweating; headache; shivering; throat impediment (hóu bì); curled tongue; heat in the mouth and vexation; shortness of breath; jaundice; nosebleed; swelling of the breasts; postpartum absence of milk; wind stroke; loss of the use of the little finger; dry pharynx.

Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.1 cùn slightly upward oblique insertion. Moxa: 1‒3 cones; pole 5‒10 min.

Needle sensation: Localized twinge and pain.

Point groups: Well (jǐng) (metal) point.

Point name meaning:

• 少 shào: lesser, minor (also shǎo, few, little
• 泽 zé: marsh, damp place

The character 泽 (zé) (marsh) refers to a low place where water collects, much like a well. SI-1, which is located in a small depression, is the well (jǐng) point of the small intestine channel. The character 泽 (zé) is a reminder of both the location and the transporting-shu association of this point. The character 少 (shào) is a reference to the hand lesser (shào yīn) channel of the heart. This point is related to the heart channel because it is the first point after the heart channel in the qì cycle, and because it is used in treating disorders of that channel.

The name Lesser Marsh may also relate to the point function in moistening heart fire. In this interpretation, lesser refers to the heart channel (shào yīn, lesser yīn), while marsh is a reference to the moistening nature of the point. SI-1 treats dry mouth and vexation, both of which are symptoms of insufficient yīn humor.

The pictograph 少 (shào) can also mean little (少、小也), a reminder that the point is on the little finger. See acupoint names: origins, meanings, and translations.

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