Small Intestine Channel
Wrist Bone
腕骨Wàn GǔAnatomical location
On the ulnar border of the hand, between the base of the fifth metacarpal and the pisiform bone.
Main function
Clears Heat, benefits the eyes and ears, relieves wrist pain.
- Yuan (Source) point
Therapeutic indications
- Headache
- tinnitus
- jaundice
- wrist pain
- Wrist pain
- Headache
- Stiff neck
- Contracture of the fingers
- Intense thirst
- Fever without sweating
Name and classical tradition
Wangu, 腕骨, is the “wrist bone.” The name is purely anatomical: 腕 is the wrist; 骨, the bone. The point is on the ulnar border of the hand, between the carpal bones, and the term 腕骨 also designates the carpal bones in general. The Lingshu (Spiritual Pivot) records it in the Ben Shu chapter (本輸) as the Yuan-Source point (原穴) of the Small Intestine, which on the Yang channels has its own place in the transport sequence.
A secondary source notes that the Huangdi Neijing Taisu by Yang Shangshan, in the 7th century, records the variant 完骨 for this point. If confirmed, this is a curious fact, because 完骨 is also the name of GB12, Wangu, the point at the mastoid process on the Gallbladder channel: two Wangus pronounced identically at opposite ends of the body. The reference has not been verified in the text of the Taisu, so it should be taken with caution.
