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Alternate names: 神府 shén fǔ, Spirit House; 尾翳 wěi yì, Tail Screen; 臆前 yì qián, Anterior Breast

Channel: CV, controlling (rèn) vessel

Modern location: An acupoint located on the upper abdomen, 7 cùn superior to the umbilicus on the midline.

Classical location: One cùn above Great Tower Gate (CV-14). From The Golden Mirror of Medicine (医宗金鑑 yī zōng jīn jiàn)

Local anatomy: See CV-12.

Action: Loosens the chest and rectifies qì; transforms phlegm and suppresses cough; harmonizes the stomach and downbears counterflow; clears heat and extinguishes wind.

Modern indications: Chest pain; abdominal distension; mania and withdrawal; epilepsy.

Classical indications: Fullness in the chest; cough and counterflow; blood ejection; wheezing and panting; gripping pain in the heart; epilepsy; manic disease; abdominal swelling; hemilateral headache extending to the outer canthus; fright palpitation; adolescent sexual taxation; shortness of breath; scantness of breath; throat impediment (hóu bì); inability to get fluids down; prolapse of the rectum; sudden unchecked blood ejection; cold damage chest bind.

Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.3‒0.5 cùn perpendicular insertion. Moxa: 3‒5 cones; pole 10‒30 min.

Warning: Deep insertion contraindicated.

Point groups: Network (luò) point.

Point name meaning:

• 鸠 jiū: turtledove
• 尾 wěi: tail

Viewed from the front, the entire area of the chest can be said to resemble a turtledove. The area above the breastbone is the turtledove’s head, the breastbone is its back, the costal regions are its wings, and the area in which CV-15 is located is the turtledove’s tail. Alternately, the breastbone can be seen as the center of a turtledove’s tail (it is sometimes called turtledove’s tail) with the ribs being the feathers that spread out left and right. In either case, the point takes its name from its location just inferior to the breastbone. This metaphor becomes even more intricate when one considers the turtledove’s habit of pulling in its tail and leaving a space similar to the one where CV-15 is located. This parallels the idea of the hidden bone (i.e., the xiphoid process) at the location of this point.

Ingestion of turtledove tail was an ancient folk cure for dysphagia-occlusion. The name of this point may be derived from the fact that this disorder manifests in the area of CV-15. See acupoint names: origins, meanings, and translations.

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