ACUPUNTURA.APP
CV9

Ren Mai (Conception Vessel) Channel

Water Divide

水分Shuǐ Fēn

Use caution during pregnancy

Abdomen; avoid deep needling from the second trimester onward.

Anatomical location

On the midline, 1 cun above the navel.

Main function

Regulates the water pathways, harmonizes the Spleen and Stomach.

Therapeutic indications

  • Edema
  • ascites
  • abdominal pain
  • abdominal distension
  • diarrhea
  • borborygmi
  • urinary retention
  • obesity and overweight

Name and classical tradition

Shuifen, 水分, is the "Water Divide." 水 is water; 分 means to divide or separate. The explanation is physiological and coherent. According to classical anatomy, at the level of this point, one cun above the navel, lies the lower opening of the Small Intestine, where the clear and the turbid are separated (泌別清濁): water goes to the Bladder and waste to the Large Intestine. The point marks the site of that division, and tradition has used it, to this day, for edema and fluid retention.

The first work to record it is the Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion). According to the sources, the Taiping Shenghui Fang (Taiping Holy Prescriptions for Universal Relief), from the Song dynasty, calls it 分水, with the characters reversed. The reference works add the name 中守.

Location of point CV9, Water Divide
CC BY-ND 4.0 (opens in a new tab)
View point on the 3D modelCV9 on the anatomy
Needling techniquePerpendicular insertion 0.5-1 cun.
Depth0.5-1 cun
MoxibustionApplicable (3-5 cones or 5-10 minutes, indirect moxa)
PrecautionsAvoid deep needling so as not to injure internal organs.

Basic formulas from the vademecum · 2

View the vademecum

Named functional sets from the school: here the point does not act on its own, but through the role it plays within the maneuver.

  • Open the Water PassagesPregnancyClears the course of the water from top to bottom: CV9 separates the fluids, SP15 and ST25 open intestinal transit, TE3 mobilizes the Triple Energizer as a waterway, CV3 commands the Bladder, and BL67 closes the channel at its extremity.
  • Unblock the Lower EnergizerPregnancyLifts the stagnation of the lower abdomen: SP6 crosses the three Yin channels of the leg, SP9 drains Dampness as the He-Sea point of the Spleen, CV9 separates the clear from the turbid, and BL63, the Xi-Cleft point of the Bladder, unblocks everything at once.
Cover of the guide “Protocols for the 20 most common patterns”

Free guide · PDF

Protocols for the 20 patterns you see most in practice

Each pattern with its tongue, its pulse, the treatment principle and the points to tonify and disperse. Made for the treatment table, not the bookshelf.

Do you use CV9 with your patients?

In the Clinic you record it in the patient's file, next to the tongue, the pulse and the measurements, so at the next session you know exactly what you used. The Atlas is built in.

See the Clinic