Bladder Channel
Hiccups
譩譆Yì XǐAnatomical location
On the back, 3 cun lateral to the midline, at the level of the space between the spinous processes of T6 and T7.
Main function
Regulates Liver Qi, relieves chest oppression, strengthens the back, relieves pain.
Therapeutic indications
- Chest pain
- hypochondriac pain
- back pain
- cough
- asthma
- hiccups
- abdominal distension
- pain in the flanks
- shoulder and back pain
- fever
- dizziness
- eye pain
Name and classical tradition
Yixi, 譩譆, has a name that describes neither a bone, nor an organ, nor a function: it is a cry. 譩譆 is an interjection, the sound of complaint made by someone in pain. The Suwen (Basic Questions), in the Gu Kong Lun (骨空論) chapter, explains it: “厭之，令病者呼譩譆，譩譆應手”. When it is pressed, the patient exclaims “yixi,” and the point responds under the hand.
It is one of the few points in the system whose name records the patient's response during palpation. The name is therefore a method of location: the point is where the patient complains on pressure. Few things show better that ancient acupuncture was practiced by palpation.
The point is on the outer line of the back, level with the sixth thoracic vertebra, on the line of BL16, Dushu.
