Stomach Channel
Water Path
水突Shuǐ TūAnatomical location
On the neck, on the anterior border of the sternocleidomastoid muscle, midway between ST9 and ST11.
Main function
Regulates Qi, benefits the throat, relieves cough, descends rebellious Qi.
Therapeutic indications
- Sore throat
- cough
- asthma
- hoarseness
- chest tightness
- goiter
- loss of voice
- hyperthyroidism
Name and classical tradition
Shuitu, 水突, combines 水, water, the fluids of the body, and 突, to burst forth or a prominence. There are two readings. One, modern, speaks of the water of the channel bursting upward, pushed by the Heat of the Heart. The other, simpler, takes 突 in its plain sense of prominence: the point lies beside the laryngeal prominence, where water passes when swallowing. The second is closer to the habitual use of the character, although neither has a classical citation.
It shares the 突 with two other points of the neck, LI18, Futu, and CV22, Tiantu, in a small family of names that refer to the throat. The first work to record it is the Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion). The reference works give it the alternative names 水門, the most consistent, 水天, and 天門.
Other names
- 水門Jiayi Jing
