Small Intestine Channel
True Shoulder
肩贞Jiān ZhēnAnatomical location
On the posterior aspect of the shoulder, 1 cun above the posterior axillary crease.
Main function
Relieves shoulder and arm pain, dispels Wind-Dampness.
Therapeutic indications
- Shoulder pain
- shoulder stiffness
- scapular pain
- Shoulder pain
- Inability to raise the arm
- Tinnitus
- Deafness
- Scrofula
- Scanty sweating
Name and classical tradition
Jianzhen, 肩贞, is the first point of the channel on the shoulder, and its name has received three different interpretations, a sign that there is no consensus. 肩 is the shoulder. 贞 (貞) is the problematic character. In the first reading it means “straight” or “firm”: the point lies in a crease that does not shift, whether the arm is raised or lowered, and the reference works describe it as “清静而贞,” quiet and firm. In the second, 貞 would mean “first,” the first point of the channel on reaching the shoulder. In the third, weaker one, it would allude to divination (貞卜), a speculative reading.
The textual origin is the Suwen (Basic Questions), chapter Qi Xue Lun (氣穴論), and not the Lingshu (Spiritual Pivot), as befits a transit point on the shoulder that is not one of the five transport points. The three readings of the name are modern glosses.
