DU-01 (Chang Qiang) Long Strong

What does DU-01 Chang Qiang do?

DU-01 is the first point of the Governing Vessel, its Luo-Connecting point, and a meeting point of four pathways — and it is one of the few points in the whole system whose recorded action names a single named condition: it TREATS HAEMORRHOIDS.

• Treats haemorrhoids — stated as an action, not merely as an indication
• Benefits the two lower yin — the classical term for the anus and the urethra/genitals
• Activates the channel and alleviates pain
• Calms the spirit

Four classifications at one point. Our record gives DU-01 as the Luo-Connecting point of the Governing Vessel and as a Meeting Point of the Governing Vessel with the Conception Vessel and the Gallbladder and Kidney channels. The Governing Vessel and the Conception Vessel are the two midline vessels — one up the back, one up the front — and DU-01 sits at the bottom where the classical account has them turn.

Its place in the fifteen collaterals. The classical system counts fifteen Luo points, not twelve: one on each regular channel plus DU-01 Chang Qiang, REN-15 Jiu Wei and SP-21 Da Bao. Querying our own records returns exactly those fifteen — a complete set with no gap and no surplus, verified rather than assumed.

Why “calms the spirit” appears on a point at the base of the spine. The Governing Vessel runs up the spine and over the head, and mental-emotional actions recur along its whole length — DU-20 at the vertex, DU-24 on the forehead, DU-26 below the nose. DU-01 is the far end of that same vessel, and its epilepsy indication belongs to the same grouping.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (vessel, category and action records; the fifteen Luo-Connecting points and the DU-20, DU-24 and DU-26 records queried and verified against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is DU-01 Chang Qiang used for?

DU-01 is used above all for anorectal complaints — haemorrhoids, bloody stools, rectal prolapse, diarrhoea and constipation — and also for low back pain and epilepsy. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Haemorrhoids
• Bloody stools
• Prolapse of the rectum
• Diarrhoea
• Constipation
• Pain in the lower back
• Epilepsy

Five of the seven are anorectal, which makes this one of the most tightly focused indication lists in the library. That focus follows directly from the location: DU-01 sits between the coccyx and the anus, and its recorded uses are the conditions of the region it occupies. Constipation and diarrhoea appearing together is not a contradiction — the classical framing is regulation of the region rather than a directional effect.

An honest note, and it is the most important passage here. Bloody stools require medical assessment and should never be assumed to be haemorrhoids. Rectal bleeding is also the presenting sign of conditions that are treatable when found early and not when they are not, and attributing it to piles without examination is the specific error this warning exists to prevent. Rectal prolapse requires medical assessment. Epilepsy requires diagnosis and prescribed management, and a first or prolonged seizure is an emergency. This record documents classical use; it makes no claim that acupuncture treats any of these, and nothing here should delay care.

How it is combined. With BL-57 Cheng Shan, the classical haemorrhoid point on the calf, and BL-35 Hui Yang beside the coccyx. With DU-20 Bai Hui at the vertex for prolapse — the classical top-and-bottom pairing for sinking qi. With REN-01 Hui Yin, the corresponding point on the Conception Vessel. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and location records; the BL-35, BL-57, DU-20 and REN-01 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is DU-01 Chang Qiang located?

DU-01 is on the midline between the tip of the tailbone and the anus — our own record places it midway between the two. It is the lowest point of the Governing Vessel and the starting point of that vessel’s course up the back.

• On the midline, midway between the tip of the coccyx and the anus
• DU-02 Yao Shu is the next point up, at the sacral hiatus
• REN-01 Hui Yin, the lowest point of the Conception Vessel, lies forward of it in the perineum

The two ends of the two midline vessels sit close together. DU-01 and REN-01 are the bottom of the back midline and the bottom of the front midline respectively, both in the perineal region — and the classical account has the two vessels meeting here. Our record’s listing of DU-01 as a meeting point of the Governing and Conception Vessels states that directly.

A necessary practical note. This is an intimate location. Any examination or treatment here calls for the same standards of consent, draping, privacy and professional conduct that apply to any examination of the perineal region, and in many settings a chaperone. This record describes a location in a reference work; it is not a suggestion that a reader locate or treat this point on themselves or anyone else.

On the name. “Chang Qiang” means Long Strong. The readings usually offered relate it to the spine — the long, strong column that begins here — which fits a point at the base of the vessel that runs its whole length.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location, category and translation records, retained unchanged; the DU-02 and REN-01 positions queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 534): On the midline, midway between the tip of the coccyx and the anus.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 227): Midway between the tip of the coccyx and the anus, locating the point in prone position.

How is DU-01 Chang Qiang needled?

Our own record states perpendicular insertion of 0.5–1.0 inch, with moxibustion applicable — and the structure that governs everything about this point is the RECTUM, which lies immediately anterior to it. What follows is a neutral record of what the reference literature documents. It is not instruction, and this page does not teach technique.

• Angle and depth as recorded: perpendicular, 0.5–1.0 inch.
• The anatomical fact that matters: the anterior rectal wall lies directly in front of this point. The standard texts describe the needle being kept close to and parallel with the front of the coccyx precisely so that it travels away from the rectum rather than toward it. Angle here is not a stylistic preference.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: the anococcygeal ligament lies in the midline between the coccyx and the anal canal; the inferior rectal branches of the pudendal nerve and the inferior rectal vessels supply the region; the coccyx lies behind and the rectum in front.

Hazard, stated proportionately and precisely. There is no body cavity and no great vessel here, but there is a hollow organ immediately in front, and rectal puncture is the documented concern at this point — the reason every source that records DU-01 also records how the needle is oriented. That places DU-01 in the same small group as ST-42 and LU-08, whose records likewise open with the structure to be avoided rather than with the depth. This is also a region of high sensitivity, and the same consent and professional-conduct standards noted above apply.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at DU-01 could be located, and none is borrowed. The paediatric CT study this library uses for measured depths covers the Governing Vessel points DU-09 to DU-14 — measured skin to the epidural layer, a different definition from the off-midline points — and does not reach DU-01. No case report naming DU-01 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged; the ST-42 and LU-08 records and the point list of PMID 26922245 / PMC4769822 queried from our own data and confirmed not to include DU-01), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on DU-01, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates DU-01. Where the point appears it is one component of a protocol — anorectal, or post-operative — and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

Haemorrhoids and post-haemorrhoidectomy pain are where a reader will meet claims near this point, and the protocols in that literature typically combine DU-01 with BL-57 Cheng Shan and other distal points. Nothing here is offered as evidence of effect, and the warning above stands regardless: rectal bleeding needs assessment before it is called haemorrhoids.

What this page can state with confidence. DU-01 is the Luo-Connecting point of the Governing Vessel — one of the fifteen classical collaterals, a set verified complete in our own records — and a meeting point of four pathways. Five of its seven recorded indications are anorectal, the tightest regional focus of any point in this stretch. And the anatomical fact governing it is the rectum in front, which is why the recorded orientation of the needle is not incidental.

A note on searching for it. “GV 1”, “DU 1” and “Changqiang” searches return protocol trials and a large volume of unrelated material — Changqiang is a common Chinese given name and a frequent element in company names. Note also that our library codes this vessel DU- while much of the literature uses GV-. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (category, action and indication records; the fifteen collaterals and the BL-57 record queried and verified against our own data).