Palace of Labor

Laogong, 勞宮, is the “palace of labor.” 勞 means labor, effort, and also fatigue; 宮, palace, the central chamber of a compound. The point is in the center of the palm, and the explanation modern manuals give is that the hand is the part of the body that works the most, and this point its central residence. It is a plausible reading, but no ancient text states it.

The Lingshu (Spiritual Pivot), in the Ben Shu chapter (本輸), places it exactly: «溜於勞宮，勞宮，掌中中指本節之內間也，為滎», Qi glides to Laogong, in the center of the palm, on the inner side of the joint of the middle finger; it is the Ying-Spring point (滎穴), which in the Yin channels corresponds to Fire. That correspondence with Fire, the phase of the Heart, helps explain the place the tradition has given it in fainting conditions and in disorders of the Shen. Secondary references also count it among Sun Simiao's thirteen ghost points, a fact that could not be verified in the Qianjin Yaofang (Essential Formulas Worth a Thousand Gold).

Of its alternative names, two are simply descriptive: 掌中, “center of the palm,” and 手心, “heart of the hand.” The reference works add 營房. The confusion of other aliases has a documented explanation here. The ninth of the thirteen ghost points in the Qianjin Yaofang, called 鬼路, is described as «手橫紋上三寸，兩筋間», three cun above the wrist crease, between the tendons, which is the position of PC5, Jianshi; but the note in the edition says «即勞宮穴也», it is Laogong. From that contradiction within the text itself comes the fact that the alias 鬼路 is sometimes attributed to one point and sometimes to the other.