What Jianjing does
Jianjing is treated here as a practical point rather than a curiosity: where it sits, how it is needled, what the tradition says it does, and the skin conditions in this database that name it.
Actions
- Removes Obstructions from the Channel
- Promotes lactation
- Descends Qi and promotes labour
Location
The written location is summarised from the classical record; use the landmark named there together with the diagram.
How to find it
Find the bony landmark first, then feel for the hollow or tender spot the location describes. The point is usually sensitive when pressed. Locate Dazhui DU-14 in the depression below the seventh cervical spine, then find the outer end of the acromion at the tip of the shoulder. Draw a line between the two and put Jianjing halfway along it, on the summit of the trapezius. The point is the high point of the muscle when the patient sits upright with the arms down, and it is often tender on the side that is stiff.
Deqi
De qi at this point is felt as local distension, heaviness or aching, and may travel a short way along the channel.
A cun is a proportional body measurement, not a fixed length: one cun is about the width of the thumb at the knuckle, 1.5 cun about two finger widths, and 3 cun about the width of four fingers. On an average adult one cun is roughly one inch, but it scales with the person, which is why the texts measure in cun rather than centimetres.
Technique
Needling
Angle: 90 degrees, perpendicular Depth: Standard depth half a to half a cun. Direction: Needle in the direction the location describes.
Moxibustion
Moxibustion is recorded for five to fifteen minutes at Jianjing, and it is used where the shoulder is stiff and cold rather than hot and inflamed. It carries the same restriction as needling, so the point is avoided during pregnancy. Because the lung lies close beneath, a hot moxa stick is kept moving over the muscle rather than parked at one spot.
Cupping
The record marks cupping at this point as particularly recommended. The shape of the shoulder takes a cup well and the suction acts on the trapezius, which is where the tension of a stiff neck collects. It is used for the same obstruction pattern as the needle and carries the same warning about pregnancy.
Skin uses
Jianjing is recorded as a meeting point of the hand and foot Shaoyang channels and the Yang Linking vessel, with actions that remove channel obstruction and descend Qi. Its position at the shoulder and lateral neck supports a local reading for lesions in that area, while its meeting-point status is the traditional basis for reasoning about the upper body and the surface generally. The classical record dwells on labour, cough and neck pain, not the skin. With no skin-specific classical indication recorded for it, the rationale relies on traditional inference, not trial evidence.
No skin-specific classical indication is recorded for this point. The rationale above is an indirect, traditional reading of the point, not a promise of benefit.
Point classifications
| Classification | Value |
|---|---|
| Channel | Meridian |
Classical record
It is needled to a depth of five fen and is moxaed with five cones.
Classical citation for this point.
A meeting point of the hand and foot shaoyang and the yang linking vessel. It treats the five taxations and seven injuries, a neck that cannot turn to look behind, heaviness and oppression of the upper back, hands that cannot be raised to the head, and pain of the lumbar region and hip after a fall.
Tong Ren Shu Xue Zhen Jiu Tu Jing (Bronze Man classic), as recorded in the classical literature.
The point is not to be used during pregnancy, yet it is indicated for a labour that will not progress.
Lei Jing Tu Yi (Ming dynasty), as recorded in the classical literature.
Safety
Who should treat this point
Acupuncture and moxibustion are practitioner procedures. This page is educational and is not a guide to self-treatment.
Caution
Safety flags: contraindicated or restricted in pregnancy; the reference marks it as a dangerous point. Needle with care, adjust depth to the patient's build, and modify or avoid the point where a flag applies. The hazard here is specific and worth stating plainly. The top of the lung sits directly under this point, so a perpendicular needle that passes deeper than about half a cun in a thin patient can enter the pleural space and cause a pneumothorax. The safer technique is to pinch and lift the trapezius and pass the needle horizontally for about a cun within the muscle belly. Sensation is strong and fainting is recorded, so patients are needled lying down and a history of heart disease is treated as a warning. Pregnancy forbids the point, with the narrow exception of use at term to assist labour, and a woman whose dates are uncertain should not receive it.
Deficiency and constitution
In a depleted patient the point is worked gently and briefly.
Before treatment
Educational reference only. Skin that is spreading, painful, blistering or accompanied by fever needs medical assessment.
Modern evidence and safety
General references for acupuncture safety and skin evidence. They are not specific to this point, and they are not a claim that needling it treats any condition.
- Acupuncture-related adverse events: systematic review and meta-analyses of prospective clinical studies. BMJ Open, 2021. PMID: 34489268.
- Acupuncture for atopic dermatitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open, 2024. PMID: 39638592.
- Manual acupuncture for the treatment of chronic spontaneous urticaria: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Surgery, 2025. PMID: 40696933.
- Acupuncture in Dermatology: An Update to a Systematic Review. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2021. PMID: 32955916.
Evidence note
No controlled trial of this treatment in skin conditions was identified for this entry. What is described here rests on the classical and later materia medica record and on traditional clinical use, not on controlled trial evidence, and it is not a prediction of benefit. Where skin-specific research does exist it is linked above.
Common questions
What does Jianjing do in skin practice?
It is used where the skin picture includes the conditions it is used with, always as part of a combination chosen for the pattern.
How is it needled?
90° (Perpendicular) / 45° (Oblique). Standard depth 0.3 - 0.5 cun. De qi: Strong distention and soreness radiating to the shoulder region and spreading in all directions. Some patients experience a numbing or buzzing sensation. This point typically produces strong needling sensation (deqi), which is why shallow insertion is advised to avoid fainting.
Why is Jianjing forbidden in pregnancy?
The point has a strong downward action on qi, so the tradition treats it as capable of disturbing a pregnancy. The record prohibits it outright while a woman is carrying and allows it only at term, when the aim is to help labour begin or progress. Because that line is narrow, the safest rule in practice is to leave the point alone unless the practitioner is certain of the stage of pregnancy and is working in a birth setting.
How do I find Jianjing?
Find Dazhui DU-14 below the seventh cervical vertebra, then trace out to the far end of the acromion at the point of the shoulder. The midpoint of the line between them is Jianjing, sitting on the highest part of the trapezius. It is easiest to feel with the patient seated, shoulders relaxed and arms hanging down, and the point is usually tender on the side that is tight.
Why does a shoulder point affect milk supply?
The record treats the point as a meeting place of the hand and foot shaoyang channels with the yang linking vessel, so the channel traffic of the upper side of the body passes through it. Freeing the shoulder and the side of the neck is understood to free the same pathway that supplies the breast, which is why the point is given for milk that comes slowly, for blocked ducts and for breast pain and hardness.