List of Acupuncture Points

List Of Acupuncture Points

Acupuncture points are hypothetical locations on the body used for treatment in acupuncture and treatment systems akin to Traditional Chinese Medicine. More than 400 acupuncture points have been described with the majority located on one of the main meridians, hypothetical pathways over and within the body that channel qi. Points also exist that are not on meridians and are referred to as 'extra points'. There is no known or commonly agreed anatomical or histological basis for the existence of acupuncture points or meridians.

In east Asian countries practitioners commonly refer to acupuncture points by their names. Some points have several names. When acupuncture was adopted in the western world a standard nomenclature was developed to unambiguously identify the acupuncture points on meridians. This model achieved wide acceptance and today virtually every book on acupuncture refers to acupuncture points using it. Each acupuncture point is identified by the meridian on which it is located and its number in the point sequence on that channel. For example Lu-9 identifies the 9th acupuncture point on the lung meridian: tài yuān or gui xin, which are two names of the same acupuncture point. Although often extra points have also a number and a shortcut for a body part assigned, there is no commonly agreed system and identification of these points relies on their names.

The above figure and the tables below follow the standard numbering scheme to identify the acupuncture points of the main channels. For extra points the tables follow the numbering scheme used by A Manual of Acupuncture.

Note: Most traditional acupuncture charts begin with the Lung Meridian (#10 in the list below) and end with the Liver Meridian (#9 in the list below), likewise appending the Governing & Conception Vessels (#13 & #14 in the list below) after completing the list for the 12 body meridians (i.e. the meridians associated with the zang fu organs).