素问·骨空论 Treatise on the Bone Cavities

Huangdi asked: I have heard that wind is the beginning of the hundred diseases. How does one treat it with the needle? Qibo replied: When wind enters from without, it causes a person to shiver with cold, to sweat, to suffer headache, heaviness of the body, and aversion to cold. Treat at Fengfu, regulating the yin and yang: if deficient, supplement; if excessive, drain.

For great wind with pain in the neck and nape, needle Fengfu; Fengfu lies above the first vertebra. For great wind with sweating, moxa Yixi; Yixi lies below the back, flanking the spine some three cun to the side — press it and have the patient call out "Yixi," and the point will respond beneath the hand. For catching wind with aversion to wind, needle the head of the eyebrow. For a stiff neck, the point lies on the shoulder between the chess-piece-shaped bones; have the patient extend the arm level with the elbow, and moxa the center of the spine. For pulling pain and distension from the flank-connecting region and the free ribs drawing into the lower abdomen, needle Yixi. For lumbar pain that prevents turning or swaying, with urgent pulling toward the genitals, needle the eight liao points together with the point above the pain; the eight liao points lie in the region between the lumbar spine and the sacrum.

For scrofula with cold and heat, also needle Hanfu; Hanfu lies at the outer bend beside the knee. To take the points above and outside the knee, have the patient bow; to take the point at the center of the sole, have the patient kneel. The conception vessel arises below Zhongji, ascends to the region of the pubic hair, follows the interior of the abdomen upward to Guanyuan, reaches the throat, ascends to the chin, and follows the face into the eyes. The penetrating vessel arises at Qijie, runs alongside the lesser yin channel, flanks the navel and ascends, reaching the chest, where it disperses. When the conception vessel is diseased, in men it produces the seven kinds of shan bound within; in women it produces vaginal discharge and abdominal masses. When the penetrating vessel is diseased, it produces counterflow qi and urgency within. When the governing vessel is diseased, it produces rigidity of the spine and opisthotonos. The governing vessel arises below the lower abdomen at the center of the pubic bone; in women it enters and connects with the ting orifice, this orifice being the tip of the urinary opening. Its connecting branch follows the genitals, joins at the perineum, and encircles behind it; a separate branch encircles the buttocks and reaches the lesser yin channel, joining there with the connecting branch of greater yang; the lesser yin ascends the inner-rear border of the thigh, pierces the spine, and belongs to the kidney; together with greater yang, it arises at the inner canthus, ascends the forehead, crosses at the crown, enters and connects with the brain, then emerges again, descends the nape, follows the shoulder blades, flanks the spine internally, reaches the lumbar region, enters along the paraspinal muscles, and connects with the kidney. In men it follows the penis down to the perineum, just as in women. Its branch rising directly from the lower abdomen pierces the center of the navel, ascends further to pierce the heart, enters the throat, rises to the chin, encircles the lips, and ascends to connect with the center beneath the two eyes. When disease arises from this vessel, qi rushes upward from the lower abdomen to the heart, causing pain and inability to defecate or urinate — this is called penetrating shan; in women it causes infertility, painful urinary blockage, hemorrhoids, incontinence, and dryness of the throat. When disease arises in the governing vessel, treat the governing vessel, treating at the point above the pubic bone; in severe cases, treat the point below the navel. When there is rising qi accompanied by sound, treat the throat; where its center lies within Quepen, if the disease rushes upward to the throat, treat the "gradual" point, which lies flanking the chin above.

For a stiff knee that extends but will not flex, treat the hip joint. For knee pain while sitting, treat the hip socket. For weakness upon standing, treat the knee joint. For knee pain extending to the big toe, treat the popliteal fossa. For knee pain while sitting, as though something were lodged within, treat the joint. For knee pain that can neither bend nor extend, treat the inner back of the knee. For pain joining the shin as if it were broken, treat the central transport-hollow of yang brightness; failing that, treat separately the spring-points of greater yang and lesser yin. For pervasive weakness and aching of the shin with inability to stand for long, treat the linking vessel of lesser yang, located five cun above the outer ankle. The bone above the assisting bone and below the transverse bone forms the hip joint; flanking the pelvis forms the hip socket; the knee joint forms the 骸关; the bone flanking the knee forms the 连骸; below it is the assisting bone; above the assisting bone is the popliteal fossa; above the popliteal fossa is the joint; and the transverse bone of the head forms the occiput.

As for the fifty-seven transport-points for water: above the sacrum, five rows of five points; above Futu, two rows of five points; to the left and right, one row each of five points; above the ankle, one row on each side of six points.

The marrow cavity behind the brain lies three fen in, below the pointed bone at the edge of the skull; one lies below the base of the gums; one lies below the doubled bone at the center behind the nape; one lies at the bone cavity above the spine, above Fengfu; the bone cavity below the spine lies below the sacral bone. The several marrow cavities of the face flank the nose; another bone cavity lies below the mouth, level with the two shoulders. The two shoulder-blade bone cavities lie on the outer side of the shoulder-blade center. The arm-bone cavity lies on the outer side of the arm, four cun from the wrist, between the two bones. The thigh-bone's upper cavity lies on the outer side of the thigh, four cun above the knee. The shin-bone cavity lies at the upper end of the assisting bone. The cavity near the hip lies below the pulsating point amid the pubic hair. The sacral bone cavity lies behind the hip bone, four cun distant. The shoulder bone has seeping texture and gathering points but no marrow hole — it exchanges marrow without possessing a cavity.

The method of moxibustion for cold and heat disorders: first moxa the Great Vertebra at the nape, using the patient's age as the number of cones; next moxa the coccyx, likewise using the age as the number of cones; observe any depression at the back transport-points and moxa it; moxa the depression that appears on the shoulder when the arm is raised; moxa between the two free ribs; moxa the tip of Juegu above the outer ankle; moxa between the fourth and little toes; moxa the sunken vessel below the calf; moxa behind the outer ankle; where pressing above Quepen reveals a hardness as taut and painful as a sinew, moxa it; moxa the bone hollow within the chest; moxa below the wrist bones; moxa three cun below the navel at Guanyuan; moxa the pulsating vessel amid the pubic hair; moxa the muscle division three cun below the knee; moxa the pulsating vessel atop the instep along the foot yang brightness channel; moxa once at the crown of the head; for a place bitten by a dog, moxa it with three cones and then treat according to the method for dog-bite injury — in all, twenty-nine places should be moxaed. For food-damage, moxa accordingly; if it does not resolve, one must observe which channel the disorder has passed into on the yang side, and needle its transport-point repeatedly while administering medicine.