Triple Energizer Channel
Connection of the Three Yang
三阳络Sān Yáng LuòAnatomical location
4 cun above the wrist crease, between the radius and the ulna, on the line connecting TE4 (Yangchi) with the elbow.
Main function
Benefits the ears, relieves pain, opens the channels.
Therapeutic indications
- Deafness
- ear pain
- toothache
- arm pain
- shoulder pain
- loss of voice
- Sudden aphonia
- Arm pain
- Tooth pain
- Chest pain
Name and classical tradition
Sanyangluo, 三阳络, is the «connection of the three yang». 三陽 are the three yang channels, and the most usual reading takes them to be the three yang channels of the hand, the Taiyang, the Shaoyang, and the Yangming, whose Qi would meet here; 络 (絡), the network, the connection. The name recalls that of SP6, Sanyinjiao, the crossing of the three yin in the leg, although no ancient source states the parallel.
The first work to record it is the Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion), which places it «在臂上大交脈，支溝上一寸», on the great crossing of vessels of the forearm, one cun above TE6, and warns: «不可刺», it is not needled, only moxibustion is applied. The repertories give it two alternative names from the same semantic field, 通間 and 通門, «the one that passes through the space» and «the gateway of passage». Modern sources link it to deafness, with no verified ancient citation.
