What Yinlingquan does
Yinlingquan sits below the inner knee, at the junction of the shin and the tibial head. Its work is draining Dampness from the lower body, whether that Dampness is cold or hot.
Actions
- Resolves Dampness
- Opens the water passages and benefits urination
- Regulates the Spleen
- Drains Damp-Heat from the lower burner
Location
On the lower border of the medial condyle of the tibia, in the depression between the back edge of the tibia and the gastrocnemius muscle.
How to find it
Bend the knee and run a finger up the back edge of the shin bone toward the knee. The point is in the hollow where the shaft meets the head of the tibia, just behind the bone. It is typically tender.
Deqi
Local soreness and distension, often deep and heavy, sometimes spreading down the inner leg.
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: 1.0 to 2.0 cun Direction: 1 to 1.5 cun vertically, along the posterior border of the tibia
Moxibustion
Ten to twenty minutes, used when the Dampness is cold rather than hot.
Cupping
Used over the point and the surrounding channel for dampness and swelling.
Gua sha
Gua sha along the inner leg for dampness with heaviness.
Bleeding
Questionable at this point and not part of routine practice.
Skin uses
- Weeping, oozing eczema
- Skin lesions with swelling and heaviness
- Skin that is worse in humid weather
Point classifications
| Classification | Value |
|---|---|
| Five phase | Water (Shui) |
| Transporting type | Sea-He point |
| Mother-child role | Child, therefore reducing on this channel |
| Main role | Drains Dampness from the lower burner |
Classical record
Yinlingquan and Shuifen eliminate abdominal oedema.
Bai Zheng Fu (百症赋, Ode of a Hundred Symptoms).
For heat disease with acute pain around the umbilicus and fullness in the chest and hypochondrium, treat Yongquan KI-1 and Yinlingquan.
Ling Shu (灵枢), chapter on heat diseases.
Safety
Who should treat this point
Acupuncture and moxibustion are practitioner procedures; this page is educational.
Caution
The great saphenous vein lies in front of the point and the tibial nerve in the deeper layer, so needling avoids aggressive manipulation, especially where there are varicose veins. Tenderness at the point is common and diagnostic rather than a reason to avoid it.
Deficiency and constitution
Draining a depleted person makes them weaker. In deficiency patterns the point is used gently and always with tonifying points.
Before treatment
Educational reference only. Oedema of both legs, or a weeping lesion that spreads rapidly, 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
How is it used for skin?
For Dampness: the oozing, swelling, heaviness and crusting that comes with it. Draining the point reduces what the skin is trying to discharge.
Damp-Cold or Damp-Heat?
Both. The combination and the technique change: moxa and warming points for cold, cooling points such as Quchi for heat.
Why is it tender?
Tenderness is common in dampness patterns and is used as a locating aid; it usually eases as the pattern improves.