Liver Channel
Knee Pass
膝关Xī GuānAnatomical location
On the medial side of the leg, below the medial condyle of the tibia, 1 cun posterior to SP9 (Yinlingquan), on the upper part of the gastrocnemius.
Main function
Regulates the Liver, benefits the knees, relieves pain, relaxes the tendons.
Therapeutic indications
- Knee pain
- knee swelling
- knee stiffness
- muscle contractures
- pain in the knee
- pain on the medial side of the knee
- knee arthritis
- sore throat
Name and classical tradition
Xiguan, 膝关, is the “knee barrier.” 膝 is the knee; 关 (關), the pass, the barrier, the joint that controls passage. The name is literal: the point sits just below the knee, on the inner side. There is no controversy.
The Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion) devotes an entry to it, reproduced in secondary sources, in the characteristic style of the work: “膝關，在犢鼻下二寸陷者中，足厥陰脈氣所發。刺入四分，灸五壯”. Xiguan is two cun below Dubi, ST35, in the depression; it is a place where the Qi of the Foot Jueyin emerges. Needle four fen deep and apply five cones of moxa. It has not been checked against a critical edition.
Reference works give it the alternative name 陰關, “yin barrier,” consistent with its position on the inner side.
