Back to search result Previous Next
Search in acupoints

TB-9 Four Rivers

四渎 〔四瀆〕 sì dú

Channel: TB, hand lesser yáng (shào yáng) triple burner channel

Modern location: An acupoint located on the posterior aspect of the forearm, 5 cùn distal to the tip of the olecranon, midway between the radius and the ulna.

Classical location: Five cùn in front of the elbow, in the depression on the outer side. From The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (针灸大成 zhēn jiǔ dà chéng)

Local anatomy: See TB-7.

Action: Courses the channels and quickens the network vessels; regulates the waterways; disinhibits the throat and opens the orifices.

Modern indications: Deafness; painful swollen throat; fulminant loss of voice; toothache; impediment pain (bì tòng) in the upper limbs.

Classical indications: Blocked sensation in the throat.

Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.5‒1.0 cùn perpendicular insertion. Moxa: 3 cones; pole 5‒10 min.

Needle sensation: Distension and numbness, spreading toward the hand or elbow.

Point name meaning:

In this point name the character 渎 (dú), meaning river, is drawn from the Líng Shū, where the triple burner is called 中渎 (zhōng dú), the central river. The term four rivers is a reference to the four main rivers in China and, by extension, rivers and streams in general. It could be that the number four was chosen because it nicely follows Three Yáng Connection (TB-8).

The spleen is intimately connected with the number four because four is the number of tai yīn, with which the spleen is associated, and because the spleen governs the four limbs. The spleen is associated with damp and belongs to the earth phase. TB-9 is like a ditch linking TB-10, which is the earth point of the triple burner channel. Given this and the triple burner’s function in relationship to the water path, this point name could be rendered as Four Ditch, meaning ditch linking the earth phase, or the spleen. See acupoint names: origins, meanings, and translations.

Back to search result Previous Next