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Alternate names: 吕宫 lǚ gōng, Lu Palace; 吕细 lǚ xì, Small Lu

Channel: KI, foot lesser yīn (shào yīn) kidney channel

Modern location: An acupoint located at the ankle joint, midway between the medial malleolus and the Achilles tendon (t. calcaneus), level with the tip of the malleolus.

Classical location: Five fēn behind the inner anklebone, in the depression above the heel bone where a pulsating vessel can be felt. From The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (针灸大成 zhēn jiǔ dà chéng)

Local anatomy: Anteriorly, the posterior tibial artery and vein. The medial crural cutaneous nerve, on the course of the tibial nerve.

Action: Enriches kidney yīn; abates vacuity heat; invigorates original yáng; and rectifies the uterus.

Modern indications: Menstrual irregularities; seminal emission; impotence; frequent urination; constipation; dispersion-thirst; coughing of blood; panting; painful swollen throat; toothache; insomnia; lumbar pain; deafness; tinnitus.

Classical indications: Throat impediment (hóu bì) and swollen pharynx; toothache; kidney vacuity impotence and seminal emission; cold mounting (hán shàn); difficult defecation; mammary welling-abscess (rǔ yōng); heart pain; reversal cold of the extremities; damp itch and sores on the inside of the thigh; propping fullness in the chest and rib-side; kidney disease; febrile disease with profuse sweating; gluey sensation in the mouth; repletion panting and fullness and phlegm tinnitus.

Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.3 cùn perpendicular insertion. Moxa: 3 cones; pole 5‒10 min.

Needle sensation: Localized distension and numbness, the latter sometimes spreading over the soles of the feet.

Point groups: Stream (shù) (earth) and source (yuán) point; one of the nine needles for returning yáng.

Point name meaning:

• 太 tài: great, big, the most
• 溪 xī: a mountain stream, ravine

KI-3 is the source point of the channel, and palpation of the pulse here can reveal the condition of the kidney qì. The use of 太 (tài), meaning great, reflects the importance of this point in these respects. The narrow depression in which the point is located, together with the fact that this is the water channel, make ravine (溪 xī ) an appropriate name.

The character 吕 (lǘ) that is used in the alternate name for this point represents the fifth note of the Chinese musical scale. 吕 is a yīn sound and is associated with the kidney. The alternate name Small Lǚ is the yīn (small) aspect of the yīn sound and represents yīn within yīn, just as the kidney is yīn within yīn, lowest of the yīn organs and associated with lesser yīn (shào yīn). See acupoint names: origins, meanings, and translations.

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