Extra point · Upper Limb
Eight Pathogens
八邪Bā XiéAnatomical location
Eight points in the webs between the fingers of both hands, at the junction of the red and white skin.
Same point as 107PC · Bā Xié — Curious Points catalogMain function
Disperses Heat and Wind, activates the collateral, detoxifies.
Therapeutic indications
- Swollen or numb fingers
- bites
- fever
- hand pain
Name and classical tradition
Baxie, 八邪, means the “eight pathogens”: 八, eight; 邪, the pathogenic factor, whatever attacks from outside. There are eight points, four on each hand, in the webs between the fingers, and the name tells you both how many there are and what they fight.
The Zhenjiu Dacheng (Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion) describes them one by one and gives each its own name: 大都, between the thumb and index finger; 上都, between the index and middle fingers; 中都, between the middle and ring fingers, about which it says «又名液門», also called Yemen, TE2; and 下都, between the ring and little fingers, «一名中渚», the same name as TE3, Zhongzhu. It concludes: «兩手共八穴，故名八邪», eight points on the two hands, hence the name Baxie. Their counterparts on the foot are EX-LE10.
