What Shaofu does
Shaofu 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
- Clears Fire, Empty-Fire or Phlegm Fire in the Heart
- Calms the Mind
- Benefits the Bladder
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. The point sits between the two transverse creases of the palm, in the gap between the fourth and fifth metacarpal bones, and it is tender to firm pressure. Ask the patient to make a fist: the spot under the tip of the little finger is the usual guide, and the point lies in the soft depression there rather than on the bone. Confirm by pressing slowly until the patient reports a distinct ache, which most people feel at this point even when they are well.
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 at Shaofu is recorded for five to ten minutes with a moxa stick, or for one to three cones. It suits the cold and depleted side of the point's range, such as a cold palm or a prolapse treated by tonification, rather than the hot presentations the point is usually chosen for. The palm is sensitive, so the moxa is held at a comfortable distance and tested on the back of the hand first.
Cupping
Cupping is recorded as contraindicated at this point. The palm is hollow and thinly padded, and the digital vessels and nerves run between the metacarpals immediately under the skin, so suction would pull on structures that cannot be protected. Where cupping is wanted for the same pattern it is placed on the upper back rather than on the hand.
Gua sha
Gua sha is also listed as contraindicated here. The technique needs a broad flat surface and a layer of tissue thick enough to take the friction, and the palm offers neither; scraping across the metacarpals would be painful and could bruise the digital vessels. The same intention is served by treating the back or the forearm instead.
Skin uses
Shaofu is the Ying-spring point of the Heart channel in the palm, recorded to clear Fire, Empty-Fire or Phlegm-Fire in the Heart, calm the Mind and benefit the Bladder. The Fire-clearing action gives an indirect skin reading where a hot, red or restless picture is read as Heart Fire, and the point's palm location gives it a local field for lesions on the hand. Its indications include tongue ulcers and genital itching, which are mucosal and genitourinary rather than a skin rationale. No skin-specific classical indication is recorded for the point, and this remains an indirect rationale, 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 |
|---|---|
| Five phase | Fire-Huo |
| Transporting type | Spring-Ying Point |
| Mother-child role | Child (Reducing) |
Combinations
Genital itching and swelling
The record pairs Shaofu with Xinshu, the back shu point of the heart, for itching and swelling of the genitals. Its reasoning is the downward route described above: heat in the heart is said to pass through the small intestine to the bladder and to show at the genital skin. Treating the heart's own transport point on the back at the same time reaches the source while the distal point clears what has already arrived.
Classical record
主烦满少气，悲恐畏人，掌中热，臂酸，肘腋挛急，胸中痛，手卷不伸，痎疟久不愈，振寒，阴挺出，阴痒阴痛，遗尿偏坠，小便不利，太息
Classical citation for this point.
The point is first recorded as belonging to the hand shaoyin heart channel, and it is classified there as the ying spring fire point.
Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing, as recorded in the classical literature.
The ying spring points are where the qi begins to pour out, like water leaving a spring, which is how the five shu scheme explains their fire nature and their use in clearing heat from the channel.
Lingshu, on the ying spring category, 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
No special hazard is recorded for this point; use standard care for the region and adjust depth to the patient. In practice the palm needs more care than most surfaces, and the record gives the reasons. Digital nerves and vessels run in the spaces between the metacarpals directly beneath the point, and the interosseous muscles lie close under the skin, so insertion is kept shallow at 0.3 to 0.5 cun and deep needling is avoided. The palm is also one of the more sensitive areas of the body, so the patient may feel more than they expect. Pressing a fingernail near the point before insertion, and asking the patient to breathe out as the needle goes in, reduces the sting.
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 Shaofu do in skin practice?
It is used where the skin picture includes worry thirst sadness anxiety enuresis insomnia hypomania chest pain dark urine spalpitations restlnessness tongue ulcers uterus prolapse genitalia itching urinary difficulty bitter taste in the mouth, always as part of a combination chosen for the pattern.
How is it needled?
90° (Perpendicular). Standard depth 0.3 - 0.5 cun. De qi: Local distending, aching, or electric sensation in the palm. Deqi may radiate along the ulnar aspect of the hand toward the little finger. Some patients report a warming sensation spreading through the palm. The point is typically more sensitive than surrounding tissue.
How do I find Shaofu?
Make a loose fist and look at where the tip of the little finger lands on the palm. The point is in the depression between the fourth and fifth metacarpal bones at that spot, usually somewhere between the two transverse creases of the palm, and it is tender when pressed even in people who are not unwell. Ask the patient to relax the hand rather than clench it, since a tight fist pushes the metacarpals together and hides the gap.