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GV-13 Kiln Path

陶道 〔陶道〕 táo dào

Channel: GV, governing () vessel

Modern location: An acupoint located on the upper back, inferior to the spinous process of the first thoracic vertebra.

Classical location: Below the first vertebra. From The Golden Mirror of Medicine (医宗金鑑 yī zōng jīn jiàn)

Local anatomy: The posterior branch of the first intercostal artery. The medial branch of the posterior ramus of the first thoracic nerve.

Action: Courses exterior evils; clears lung heat; supplements vacuity detriment.

Modern indications: Headache; malarial disease; febrile disease; stiffness of the spinal column.

Classical indications: Heat effusion and aversion to cold; absence of sweating; heavy-headedness and dizzy vision; vacuity taxation; steaming bones.

Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.5 cùn upward oblique insertion. Moxa: 3‒7 cones; pole 10‒20 min.

Needle sensation: Twinge and distension, heat, or coolness extending downward, upward and toward the shoulders.

Point groups: Intersection point (jiāo huì xué) of the governing vessel and bladder channel.

Point name meaning:

The character is used to represent a kiln, which the spinous processes may be said to resemble. This point lies on the path to the kiln-like protuberance of the first cervical vertebra; thus it is called Kiln Path.

If the word kiln is taken as a metaphor for fire (i.e., yáng qì), then the point name is indicative of GV-14‘s location on the pathway of yáng qì (i.e., the governing vessel). See acupoint names: origins, meanings, and translations.

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