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GV-14 Great Hammer
大椎 〔大椎〕 dà zhuī
Alternate names: 百劳 bǎi láo, Hundred Taxations
Channel: GV, governing (dū) vessel
Modern location: An acupoint located on the upper back, inferior to the spinous process of the seventh cervical vertebra.
Classical location: Above the first vertebra. From
Local anatomy: The branch of the transverse cervical artery. The posterior ramus of the eighth cervical nerve and the medial branch of the posterior ramus of the first thoracic nerve.
Action: Courses exterior evils in the yáng channels; frees yáng qì of the whole body; clears the heart and quiets the spirit; clears lung heat and regulates qì.
Modern indications: Febrile disease; malarial disease; cough; panting;
Classical indications: Vexation and retching in cold damage with pronounced heat effusion; heat effusion with aversion to cold; cough; pulmonary distension and rib-side pain; stiff nape; throat impediment (hóu bì); qì fullness and panting; the five taxations and seven damages; wind taxation; acute and chronic child fright wind; vacuity sweating.
Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.5 cùn sideways and upward oblique insertion. Moxa: 3‒15 cones; pole 15‒30 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 six yáng channels and the governing vessel.
Point name meaning:
The Chinese call the vertebrae spine hammers
by virtue of their similarity in shape to the carpenter’s tool. The most prominent one, the seventh cervical, was traditionally called the great hammer.
Do not mistake the alternate name Hundred Taxations for (M-