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Alternate names: 补元 bǔ yuán, Origin Supplementer; 长谷 cháng gǔ, Long Grain; 长鸡 cháng jī, Long Chicken; 长维 cháng wéi, Long Link; 长溪 cháng xī, Long Ravine; 大肠募 dà cháng mù, Large Intestine Alarm; 谷门 gǔ mén, Valley Gate; 循际 xún jì, Cycle Border

Channel: ST, foot yáng brightness (yáng míng) stomach channel

Modern location: An acupoint located on the abdomen, level with the center of the umbilicus, 2 cùn lateral to the midline.

Classical location: One cùn below Slippery Flesh Gate (ST-24), in the depression two cùn lateral to the center of the navel. From The Golden Mirror of Medicine (医宗金鑑 yī zōng jīn jiàn)

Local anatomy: Branches of the 10th intercostal and inferior epigastric arteries and veins.

Action: Restores upward and downward bearing of qì dynamic; courses and regulates the large intestine; fortifies the spleen and transforms dampness.

Modern indications: Abdominal distension; rumbling intestines; pain round the umbilicus; constipation; diarrhea; dysentery; menstrual irregularities; concretions and conglomerations.

Classical indications: Strangury-turbidity (lìn zhuó); infertility; severe heat with raving; umbilical mounting (qí shàn) with localized pain sometimes surging up into the heart; qì mounting (qì shàn); retching; facial swelling; running piglet (bēn tún); nontransformation of grain and water (undigested food in the stool); generalized swelling; uterine pain; inhibited urination; sudden turmoil (cholera); persistent diarrhea; frequent defecation.

Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.5‒1.2 cùn perpendicular insertion. Moxa: 7‒15 cones; pole 10‒20 min.

Point groups: Alarm point (mù xué) of the large intestine.

Point name meaning:

• 天 tiān: celestial, of the heavens; sky; Nature; heaven
• 枢 shū: pivot, axis

Sù Wèn states: [The area] above the celestial pivot is governed by celestial qì; [the area] below the celestial pivot is governed by the earthly qì. The place where these qì intersect is the origin of man’s qì and the ten thousand things. This quotation shows that the junction of celestial and earthly qì in the body is the Celestial Pivot. The point name refers to the point’s location in the center of the body and to its relative importance as a juncture of celestial and earthly qì.

天枢 (tiān shū) is the ancient name of the central star in the Northern Dipper; the other six stars in that constellation rotate around it. The Sù Wèn states that the upper body has three qi’s, this is the celestial part, and is governed by celestial qì; the lower body has three qi’s and is governed by earthly qì. The three stars above and below the Celestial Pivot are representative of the three qi’s above and below ST-25.

The numerous alternate names for ST-25 provide a good sample for the study of the effects of mistranscription on acupuncture point names.

Note that the character 谷 gǔ means valley, and in the modern simplified script, it replaces 穀 gǔ meaning grain. See acupoint names: origins, meanings, and translations.

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