Extra point · Lower Limb
Eight Winds
八风Bā FēngAnatomical location
Eight points in the webs between the toes, at the junction of the red and white skin (the foot analog of Baxie).
Same point as 137PC · Bā Fēng — Curious Points catalogMain function
Activates the blood, disperses wind and heat.
Therapeutic indications
- Swelling and pain of the dorsum of the foot
- gout (podagra)
- beriberi
- numb toes
- malaria
Name and classical tradition
Bafeng, 八风, means the “eight winds”: 八, eight; 风 (風), wind, the pathogenic factor that enters from outside. There are eight points, four on each foot, in the webs between the toes, and they are the foot counterpart of EX-UE9, Baxie. The number has cosmological resonances: the eight winds of the eight directions are also those of the eighth needle of the Lingshu (Spiritual Pivot).
The Zhenjiu Dacheng (Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion) describes them as follows: «八風八穴，在足五指歧骨間，兩足共八穴，故名八風，治腳背紅腫». But the location is older. The Qianjin Yaofang (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold), in its chapter on beriberi, recommends moxa between the toes: «其足十趾去趾奇一分，兩足凡八穴，曹氏乃曰八沖», eight points that a certain Cao called the eight assaults, «極下氣有效», very effective for bringing Qi down.
