Du Mai (Governing Vessel) Channel
Spinal Center
脊中Jǐ ZhōngAnatomical location
Below the spinous process of the 11th thoracic vertebra (T11).
Main function
Strengthens the Spleen and Stomach, relieves back pain.
Therapeutic indications
- Back pain
- abdominal distension
- diarrhea
- jaundice
- Low back pain
- Hemorrhoids
- Epilepsy
- Rectal prolapse
Name and classical tradition
Jizhong, 脊中, is the “center of the spine.” 脊 is the vertebral column; 中 is the center. The explanation is arithmetical: the tradition counted twenty-one vertebrae from the base of the neck to the sacrum, and the point lies below the eleventh, right in the middle of the series. The name is consistent with that classical counting system.
The Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion) locates it “在第十一椎節下間” and attaches a warning: “不可灸，灸則令人痿.” No moxibustion, because it weakens; in the book of prohibitions the warning is even more graphic, “灸之使人僂,” it leaves the person stooped over. The reference works attribute to it the alternative names 神宗, “ancestor of the spirit,” and 脊俞, “transport point of the spine.” At its level, on both sides, are the Spleen Shu points, BL20.
