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Alternate names: 膀胱募 páng guāng mù, Bladder Alarm; 气鱼 qì yú, Qi Fish; 气原 qì yuán, Qi Source; 玉泉 yù quán, Jade Spring

Channel: CV, controlling (rèn) vessel

Modern location: An acupoint located on the smaller abdomen, 4 cùn inferior to the umbilicus on the midline.

Classical location: Directly above Curved Bone (CV-2) four cùn below the navel. From The Golden Mirror of Medicine (医宗金鑑 yī zōng jīn jiàn)

Local anatomy: The branches of the superficial epigastric and inferior epigastric arteries and veins. The branch of the iliohypogastric nerve.

Action: Regulates the blood chamber; warms the palace of essence; disinhibits the bladder; rectifies the lower burner.

Modern indications: Enuresis; inhibited urination; mounting qì (shàn qì, inguinal hernia); seminal emission; impotence; menstrual irregularities; flooding and spotting; vaginal discharge; yīn protrusion (prolapse of the uterus); infertility.

Classical indications: Amenorrhea; profuse flooding and spotting; red and white vaginal discharge; persistent flow of lochia; retention of the placenta; mounting (shàn); water swelling; running piglet (bēn tún) surging up to the heart (causing panting if severe); vacuity exhaustion of yáng qì; white turbidity; heat and pain in the abdomen; deathlike reversal; pain and heart vexation; hunger with inability to eat; swelling and pain of the child gate (cervical canal); lower origin vacuity cold; infertility.

Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.5‒1.5 cùn perpendicular insertion. Moxa: 7‒15 cones; pole 10‒20 min.

Needle sensation: Twinge and distension following the course of the controlling vessel down to the external genitalia.

Point groups: Alarm point (mù xué) of the bladder; intersection point (jiāo huì xué) of the three foot yīn (liver, spleen and kidney) channels and the controlling vessel.

Point name meaning:

• 中 zhōng: center, central, middle (also zhòng, to strike)
• 极 jí: pole (as in polar opposites), extreme

CV-3 is in the middle of the body on both a vertical and horizontal axis. Its name is the same as the Chinese name for the North Star, which is in the center of the sky.

The character 中 (zhōng) may be a reference to the center, i.e., center burner, while 极 (jí) can be considered as a substitute for its homophone 急, which means acute or urgent. A rendering of the point name as Urgent Center would reflect the point’s effectiveness in the treatment of acute abdominal pain. See acupoint names: origins, meanings, and translations.

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