Acupuncture Points for Malnutrition

🗺️ Meridian: Lung Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 中府 (zhōng fǔ)

🎯 Location: Laterosuperior to the sternum 1 thumb width below LU02 at the level of the 1st intercostal space 6 thumb widths lateral to the anterior midline.

⚠️ Cautions: Needle obliquely or laterally, never deeply or medially – risk of pneumothorax.

🛡️ Treats: Heat Chest, Cough, Chest Pain, Fever, Shortness of Breath

🗺️ Meridian: Lung Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 太淵 (tài yuān)

🎯 Location: At the radial end of the transverse crease of the wrist in the depression on the lateral side of the radial artery.

⚠️ Cautions: Caution in patients with cardiac arrhythmias; avoid excessive stimulation.

🛡️ Treats: Cough, Shortness of Breath, Asthma, Coughing Blood, Common Cold

🗺️ Meridian: Large Intestine Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 扶突 (fú tū)

🎯 Location: On the lateral side of the neck, level with tip of the adam's apple between sternal and clavicular heads of the scm muscle.

⚠️ Cautions: Avoid deep needling; proximity to carotid artery and thyroid.

🛡️ Treats: Cough, Asthma, Swelling, Sore Throat, Facial Pain

🗺️ Meridian: Stomach Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 足三里 (zú sān lǐ)

🎯 Location: 3 thumb widths below ST35, 1 finger breadth (middle finger) from anterior border of the tibia.

⚠️ Cautions: Caution in cases of severe varicose veins.

🛡️ Treats: Cough, Fever, Poor Appetite, Diarrhea, Shortness of Breath

🗺️ Meridian: Bladder Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 肺俞 (fèi shū)

🎯 Location: 1.5 thumb widths lateral to the GV12 at the level of the lower border of the spinous process of the 3rd thoracic vertebra.

⚠️ Cautions: Avoid deep perpendicular needling.

🛡️ Treats: Cough, Chest Pain, Fever, Shortness of Breath, Asthma

🗺️ Meridian: Bladder Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 脾俞 (pí shū)

🎯 Location: 1.5 thumb widths lateral to the GV06 at the level of the lower border of the spinous process of the 11th thoracic vertebra.

⚠️ Cautions: Avoid deep perpendicular needling.

🛡️ Treats: Cough, Fever, Poor Appetite, Diarrhea, Spleen Qi Deficiency

🗺️ Meridian: Bladder Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 腎俞 (shèn shū)

🎯 Location: 1.5 thumb widths lateral to the GV04 at the level of the lower border of the spinous process of the 2nd lumbar vertebra.

⚠️ Cautions: Avoid deep perpendicular needling.

🛡️ Treats: Cough, Diarrhea, Asthma, Tinnitus, Qi Deficiency

🗺️ Meridian: Kidney Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 太谿 (tài xī)

🎯 Location: In the depression the between tip of the medial malleolus and achilles tendon.

⚠️ Cautions: No specific contraindications.

🛡️ Treats: Cough, Chest Pain, Shortness of Breath, Heat Deficiency, Asthma

🗺️ Meridian: Gallbladder Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 完骨 (wán gǔ)

🎯 Location: In the depression the posterior and inferior to the mastoid process.

⚠️ Cautions: No specific contraindications for head points.

🛡️ Treats: Wind, Pain, Deviation Eye, Facial Droop, Epilepsy

🗺️ Meridian: Conception Vessel

🇨🇳 Chinese: 關元 (guān yuán)

🎯 Location: On the anterior midline 3 thumb widths below umbilicus.

⚠️ Cautions: Avoid needling over the gravid uterus after the first trimester; where used in pregnancy, needle shallowly and only on a clear obstetric indication. Bleeding in pregnancy requires obstetric assessment.

🛡️ Treats: Cough, Diarrhea, Anxiety, Shortness of Breath, Kidney Deficiency

🗺️ Meridian: Conception Vessel

🇨🇳 Chinese: 中脘 (zhōng wǎn)

🎯 Location: On the anterior midline 4 thumb widths above the umbilicus.

⚠️ Cautions: Avoid needling over the gravid uterus after the first trimester; where used in pregnancy, needle shallowly and only on a clear obstetric indication.

🛡️ Treats: Poor Appetite, Diarrhea, Shortness of Breath, Common Cold, Depression

🗺️ Meridian: Large Intestine Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 合谷 (hé gǔ)

🎯 Location: On the dorsum of the hand between 1st & 2nd metacarpal bones approximately in the middle of the 2nd metacarpal bone on the radial side.

⚠️ Cautions: Traditionally forbidden in pregnancy – these are the points used to bring on labour at term. Controlled data show no excess of preterm birth or stillbirth (Carr 2015), but in pregnancy needle only on a clear obstetric indication.

🛡️ Treats: Fever, Tinnitus, Release Exterior, Absent Periods, Wind

🗺️ Meridian: Stomach Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 天樞 (tiān shū)

🎯 Location: 2 thumb widths lateral to the center of the umbilicus.

⚠️ Cautions: Acute appendicitis is a surgical emergency – treatment here is adjunctive at most and must never delay surgical assessment. Avoid needling over the gravid uterus after the first trimester; where used in pregnancy, needle shallowly and only on a clear obstetric indication.

🛡️ Treats: Poor Appetite, Diarrhea, Constipation, Vomiting, Abdominal Bloating

🗺️ Meridian: Stomach Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 足三里 (zú sān lǐ)

🎯 Location: 3 thumb widths below ST35, 1 finger breadth (middle finger) from anterior border of the tibia.

⚠️ Cautions: Caution in cases of severe varicose veins.

🛡️ Treats: Cough, Fever, Poor Appetite, Diarrhea, Shortness of Breath

🗺️ Meridian: Stomach Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 上巨虛 (shàng jù xū)

🎯 Location: 6 thumb widths below ST35, 1 finger breadth (middle finger) from anterior border of the tibia.

⚠️ Cautions: No specific contraindications.

🛡️ Treats: Diarrhea, Shortness of Breath, Spleen Weakness, Stomach Weakness, Common Cold

🗺️ Meridian: Pericardium Meridian

🇨🇳 Chinese: 內關 (nèi guān)

🎯 Location: 2 thumb widths above the transverse crease of the wrist between tendons of the palmaris longus and flexor carpi radialis.

⚠️ Cautions: Caution in severe deficiency conditions.

🛡️ Treats: Fever, Diarrhea, Anxiety, Dizziness, Spleen Qi Deficiency