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TB-23 Silk Bamboo Hole

丝竹空 〔絲竹空〕 sī zhú kōng

Alternate names: 巨髎 jù liáo, Giant Bone-Hole; 目 mù liáo, Eye Bone-Hole; 月 yuè liáo, Moon Bone-Hole

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

Modern location: An acupoint located on the lateral aspect of the face, in the depression on the posterior edge of the frontal bone, at the lateral end of the eyebrow.

Classical location: In the depression behind the eyebrow. From The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (针灸大成 zhēn jiǔ dà chéng)

Local anatomy: The frontal branches of the superficial temporal artery and vein. The zygomatic branch of the facial nerve and the branch of the auriculotemporal nerve.

Action: Dispels wind and resolves heat; brightens the eyes and relieves pain; frees the channels and quickens the network vessels.

Modern indications: Headache; painful red swollen eyes; toothache; twitching of the eyelids; mania and withdrawal; epilepsy.

Classical indications: Hemilateral and regular headache; ingrown eyelash; toothache; epilepsy; periodic attacks of mania with foaming at the mouth; vexation and thirst; unclear vision.

Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.3 cùn backward transverse insertion.

Warning: Moxa contraindicated.

Point name meaning:

The characters 丝竹 (sī zhú), silk bamboo, refer to a type of bamboo that has tiny leaves. The eyebrow resembles these leaves, and the point is located in a hole at the lateral extremity of the eyebrow. It may therefore be said that the point name refers to the location of the point in the Silk Bamboo Hole.

If TB-22 is rendered as Harmony Bone-Hole then it may be appropriate to translate TB-23 as Strings and Pipes Hole, because (xi) and zhú (silk and bamboo) refer to stringed and wind instruments, respectively. Both points would then have names related to music.

The alternate name Moon Bone-Hole most likely resulted from a mistranscription of the character () (eye) in the alternate name 目髎 mù liáo, Eye Bone-Hole, which in turn might have been a mistranscription of an earlier name from the The Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (针灸甲乙经 zhēn jiǔ jiā yǐ jīng), 巨髎 (jù liáo), Giant Bone-Hole. See acupoint names: origins, meanings, and translations.

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