GB-34 (Yang Ling Quan) Yang Mound Spring

What does GB-34 Yang Ling Quan do?

GB-34 Yang Ling Quan carries two classifications that together define it: it is the He-Sea and Earth point of the Gall Bladder channel of Foot Shao Yang, and it is the Hui-Meeting (influential) point of the Sinews. The second classification is the decisive one — of the eight Hui-Meeting points, GB-34 is the one that governs the tendons, ligaments and soft tissue of the whole body, which is why it is reached for in almost any disorder of the sinews regardless of where the problem sits. It is also recorded as one of Ma Dan-yang's Heavenly Star points.

• Benefits the sinews and joints — the Hui-Meeting action, applied to contracture, spasm, stiffness and weakness anywhere in the body.
• Activates the channel and alleviates pain — its channel role along the lateral leg and Shao Yang.
• Spreads Liver qi and benefits the lateral costal region — Liver and Gall Bladder being interior–exterior paired, GB-34 is used for constraint expressing itself along the flanks.
• Clears Liver and Gall Bladder damp-heat — the He-Sea point's fu-organ action, addressed to jaundice, bitter taste and biliary patterns.
• Harmonises Shao Yang — used where the pattern is described as half-exterior, half-interior with alternating presentation.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, five-shu, Hui-Meeting and Heavenly Star classifications); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 450; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 218; Hui-Meeting point scheme per Nan Jing (Classic of Difficulties), Difficulty 45.

What is GB-34 Yang Ling Quan used for?

GB-34 is used above all for disorders of the sinews and of the lower limb, and secondarily for Liver–Gall Bladder patterns affecting the flanks and digestion. The indications recorded in our sources fall into three groups: musculoskeletal and neurological problems of the legs, biliary and hypochondriac complaints, and a small set of childhood convulsive indications.

• Hemiplegia following stroke
• Weakness, numbness and pain of the lower extremities
• Contracture, spasm or stiffness of the sinews anywhere in the body
• Swelling and pain of the knee
• Beriberi
• Hypochondriac (flank and rib-side) pain
• Bitter taste in the mouth
• Vomiting
• Jaundice
• Infantile convulsion

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 218; Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 450; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

How is GB-34 Yang Ling Quan used in practice?

GB-34 lies just below the outer side of the knee, in the tender hollow roughly one cun in front of and below the head of the fibula — the small bony knob that can be felt on the outer aspect of the upper calf. Because that landmark is easy to find and the point is tender when relevant, GB-34 is one of the first points a practitioner palpates in any sinew problem.

• With GB-40 Qiu Xu — Source point and He-Sea point of the same channel, the standard within-channel pairing for Gall Bladder patterns.
• With LIV-03 Tai Chong — Liver Source point with Gall Bladder He-Sea point, for constraint, flank pain and irritability across the paired channels.
• With LIV-14 Qi Men and GB-24 Ri Yue — for hypochondriac pain and biliary patterns, adding the local collecting points on the flank.
• With GB-30 Huan Tiao and GB-31 Feng Shi — the standard Shao Yang channel treatment down the lateral leg for sciatic and hip-to-knee pain.
• With SJ-05 Wai Guan — the two hand and foot Shao Yang points used together to open the channel along its full length.
• With ST-36 and SP-06 — a common supporting combination where limb weakness is attributed to depletion as well as to sinew disease.

Among the eight Hui-Meeting points, GB-34 governs the sinews as BL-17 Ge Shu governs blood, LIV-13 Zhang Men the zang organs, REN-12 Zhong Wan the fu organs, and GB-39 Xuan Zhong the marrow. Knowing that set is what allows a practitioner to select a point by the tissue involved rather than by the location of the complaint — the reason GB-34 appears in treatments for a stiff shoulder or a frozen jaw as readily as for a knee. GB-34 and GB-39, both on the lateral lower leg, are often used together where sinew and marrow are both implicated.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and point categories); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 450; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 218; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is GB-34 located?

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 450): Below the lateral aspect of the knee, in the tender depression approximately 1 cun anterior and inferior to the head of the fibula.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 218): In the depression anterior and inferior to the head of the fibula.

How is GB-34 Yang Ling Quan needled in the textbooks?

Reference record only — this describes what the standard texts document, not instruction for a reader. Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion records perpendicular insertion of 0.8–1.2 cun at GB-34, with moxibustion noted as applicable. Deadman & Al-Khafaji record perpendicular insertion in a comparable range and additionally describe oblique insertion directed posteriorly and downward, and transverse insertion toward SP-09 Yin Ling Quan on the medial side of the leg, for particular applications.

• Angle documented: perpendicular; oblique posterior-inferior and transverse toward SP-09 also described.
• Depth documented: approximately 0.8–1.2 cun perpendicular; deeper for the transverse variant.
• Moxibustion: documented as applicable.

Safety reference. GB-34 carries no cavity or organ hazard, but it does sit in a nerve-sensitive location and the texts treat this explicitly. The common peroneal (common fibular) nerve winds around the neck of the fibula immediately behind and below the head of the fibula, close to the point. The standard references therefore describe the depth and angle at GB-34 as bounded, and note that needling too deeply or too far posteriorly can produce a strong electric radiating sensation down the outer leg into the foot; the anatomical concern documented in the wider clinical literature is transient irritation of that nerve. This is why the point is located anterior and inferior to the fibular head rather than directly on or behind it. Standard clean-needle practice applies. Acupuncture is performed by qualified practitioners; this record documents the literature and is not a technique guide.

Source: Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 218; Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 450; Sacred Lotus sources & references.

What does the name Yang Ling Quan mean?

Yang Ling Quan translates as "Yang Mound Spring" — yang for the lateral (yang) aspect of the leg, ling for mound or hill, and quan for spring or well. The mound is the head of the fibula, the prominence beside which the point sits, and the spring is the hollow just in front of and below it. Its exact mirror image on the inner side of the leg is SP-09 Yin Ling Quan, "Yin Mound Spring" — the He-Sea point of the Spleen channel. The paired names are deliberate, and the two points are frequently needled through toward one another.

Why does the Hui-Meeting point of the Sinews classification matter?

The eight Hui-Meeting or influential points, set out in the Nan Jing, each govern one tissue or category across the whole body rather than one channel. GB-34 is assigned the sinews (jin) — in Chinese medicine a broader category than "tendon", covering tendons, ligaments, fascia and the contractile soft tissue generally. The assignment is not arbitrary: the Liver, paired with the Gall Bladder, is said to govern the sinews, and GB-34 sits where the Shao Yang channel passes the knee's lateral soft-tissue structures. The practical consequence is that GB-34 is treated as a distal point for sinew problems anywhere — shoulder, neck, jaw, hip — not merely for the knee it lies beside. That is the single fact most worth carrying away about this point.

Is there research on GB-34?

The research relevant to GB-34 concentrates on post-stroke spasticity and hemiplegia — its main modern clinical territory — but almost all of the clinical work studies multi-point protocols in which GB-34 is one component, so it should not be read as evidence about the point in isolation. A systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture for post-stroke spasticity included 88 trials and 6,431 participants and reported reductions in Modified Ashworth Scale scores when acupuncture was added to conventional rehabilitation, but rated the certainty of evidence low, noted high risk of bias across the included studies, and concluded that the effect remains to be confirmed (PMID 36062002). GB-34 appears in a large share of those protocols; the review does not isolate it.

Point-specific work on GB-34 is mostly mechanistic. A functional MRI study using intersubject functional correlation analysis examined sensorimotor network responses to needling GB-34 in post-stroke hemiplegic patients (PMID 35734477) — imaging in patients, not a test of clinical outcome. An animal study reported that a particular manual needling technique at GB-34 increased cerebral blood flow and reduced spastic paresis in a rat middle cerebral artery occlusion model (PMID 37147753); that is preclinical evidence and does not transfer directly to people. The honest position is that GB-34's standing rests principally on classical classification and long clinical use, with modern evidence that is suggestive at protocol level and preliminary at point level.

How does GB-34 differ from nearby points?

GB-34 is most often confused with SP-09 Yin Ling Quan, its named mirror on the medial side of the leg, which is the He-Sea and Water point of the Spleen channel and is used for dampness and urinary difficulty rather than for sinews. Just above it, GB-33 Xi Yang Guan is a local knee point without the Hui-Meeting role; below it, GB-39 Xuan Zhong is the Hui-Meeting point of Marrow. ST-36 sits on the front of the same leg segment but on the Yang Ming channel with an entirely different function — supplementing qi and blood rather than freeing the sinews — and the two are complementary rather than interchangeable.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references; Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 450; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 218; Nan Jing (Classic of Difficulties), Difficulty 45; PubMed PMID 36062002, 35734477, 37147753 (each checked for retraction status before citation).