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Alternate names: 水穴 shuǐ xué, Water Hole

Channel: LI, hand yáng brightness (yáng míng) large intestine channel

Modern location: An acupoint located on the anterolateral aspect of the neck, level with the tip of the laryngeal prominence (adam's apple), between the sternal and clavicular heads of the sternocleidomastoid (scm) muscle.

Classical location: Going up from Celestial Tripod (LI-17), it is one cùn below the corner of the jaw, and one cùn and five fēn behind Man’s Prognosis (ST-9). The point is found in supine posture. From The Golden Mirror of Medicine (医宗金鑑 yī zōng jīn jiàn)

Local anatomy: Deeper on the medial side, the ascending cervical artery and vein. The great auricular nerve, the cutaneous cervical nerve, lesser occipital nerve and accessory nerve.

Action: Regulates qì and blood; disinhibits the throat.

Modern indications: Cough and panting; painful swollen throat; loss of voice; scrofula; goiter.

Classical indications: Frog rale in the throat; inhibited throat.

Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.3 cùn perpendicular insertion. Moxa: 4 cones; pole 5‒10 min.

Point name meaning:

• 扶 fú: to assist, to aid
• 突 tú: protuberance; sudden, abrupt

LI-18 is located lateral to the laryngeal prominence. It assists the functioning of this area by treating such ailments as cough, hoarseness and difficulty in swallowing; and thus derives its name, Protuberance Assistant.

A further explanation is found in the fact that the width of four fingers is equal to three cùn and is termed 扶 fú (also written 夫). LI-18 is located three cùn lateral from the prominence of the larynx, so its name is also a convenient device for remembering the location of the point, i.e., one 扶 (fú) from the laryngeal prominence (Adam’s apple). See acupoint names: origins, meanings, and translations.

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