Triple Energizer Channel
Central Islet
中渚Zhōng ZhǔAnatomical location
On the back of the hand, in the depression between the fourth and fifth metacarpal bones, about 1 cun proximal to the metacarpophalangeal joint.
Main function
Shu-Stream point (Wood), tonification point, benefits the ears, relieves pain, regulates the Qi of the Triple Energizer.
- Shu-Stream point (Wood)
- Tonification Point
Therapeutic indications
- Ear pain
- deafness
- sore throat
- pain on the back of the hand
- finger pain
- headache
- shoulder and arm pain
- Tinnitus
- Temporal headache
- Red eyes
- Finger pain and stiffness
- Shoulder and back pain
- Fever
- Rheumatoid arthritis
Ryodoraku
- Tonification of Triple Energizer
Name and classical tradition
Zhongzhu, 中渚, is the «middle islet». 中 is the center; 渚, the islet or sandbar that forms in the middle of a stream. The classical reading in the repertories ties the name to its place in the transport sequence: the point sits at the center of the series, and Qi flows around it the way water flows around an islet. There is another modern gloss, with no classical citation, that speaks of the dust of the earth settling here.
The Lingshu (Spiritual Pivot), in the Ben Shu chapter (本輸), places it «本節之後陷者中也», in the depression behind the joint, on the back of the hand between the fourth and fifth metacarpals. It is the Shu-Stream point (輸穴) of the channel, which in the yang channels corresponds to Wood. The repertories give it the alternative name 下都, «lower capital».
It is worth telling three similar names apart: Zhongzhu, the islet of the hand; TE9, Sidu, the four rivers of the forearm, and GB32, Zhongdu, the watercourse of the thigh.
