LU-08 (Jing Qu) Channel Ditch

What does LU-08 Jing Qu do?

LU-08 is the Jing-River and Metal point of the Lung channel — and because the Lung is itself a yin METAL channel, Metal on Metal makes LU-08 the HORARY point. A horary point is a channel’s own element expressed on itself, and it is not the sedation point — the distinction this library has now had to make on five separate channels, because it is the commonest error in the five-shu system.

• Descends Lung qi and alleviates cough and wheezing — the whole of the recorded action, and a compact statement of what a Lung channel point does

The Lung five-shu roles, derived from this site’s own element records: LU-11 Shao Shang is Wood, LU-10 Yu Ji is Fire, LU-09 Tai Yuan is Earth, LU-08 is Metal, LU-05 Chi Ze is Water. The Lung is yin Metal, so:

• Horary point — LU-08 Jing Qu (Metal on a Metal channel) — this point
• Tonification (mother) point — LU-09 Tai Yuan (Earth, the mother of Metal)
• Sedation (child) point — LU-05 Chi Ze (Water, the child of Metal)
• Controlling-element point — LU-10 Yu Ji (Fire, which controls Metal) — none of the three

That set agrees with the LU-05, LU-09, LU-10 and LU-11 records already written in this library, each derived independently. Note also that on yin channels the Yuan-Source point coincides with the Shu-Stream: LU-09 holds both, and is additionally the Hui-Meeting point of the vessels. On yang channels the two are separate points.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, element and action records; the full Lung five-shu series queried from our own data and checked against the LU-05, LU-09, LU-10 and LU-11 records), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is LU-08 Jing Qu used for?

LU-08 is used for cough and wheezing, for fever and sore throat, for chest pain, and for pain of the wrist itself. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Cough
• Asthma and wheezing
• Fever
• Pain in the chest
• Sore throat
• Pain in the wrist

Five of the six are the channel; one is the location. Wrist pain is what a point at the wrist treats. The rest is the Lung channel doing what Lung channel points do, and there is nothing on this list that a reader should find surprising — which is itself informative, because it means the record has not accumulated indications from elsewhere.

How it sits among the Lung wrist points. LU-09 Tai Yuan is one cun distal at the radial pulse — the Yuan-Source point, Shu-Stream point and Hui-Meeting point of the vessels, and by far the more heavily classified of the two. LU-07 Lie Que is 1.5 cun proximal — the Luo-Connecting point and Confluent point of the Ren Mai. LU-08 sits between two of the most classified points on the channel and carries only its five-shu position. All three are held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication record; LU-07 and LU-09 classifications queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is LU-08 Jing Qu located?

LU-08 is one cun above the wrist on the thumb side, in the hollow at the base of the radial styloid process — on the line from LU-09 at the wrist up toward LU-06. It lies directly over the radial artery’s course, which is the defining practical fact about it.

• 1 cun proximal to LU-09 Tai Yuan, on the LU-09 to LU-06 line
• At the base of the styloid process of the radius — the bony prominence at the thumb side of the wrist
• LU-07 Lie Que lies at 1.5 cun, just above it, and is located by a different landmark

Three Lung points within an inch and a half of each other. LU-09 at the crease, LU-08 at one cun, LU-07 at 1.5 cun — and they carry entirely different classifications. Distinguishing them is a matter of careful measurement, and substituting one for another substitutes a horary point for a Yuan-Source point or a Confluent point.

On the name. “Jing Qu” means Channel Ditch or Meridian Gutter. Jing is the same character used for the Jing-River category itself, and qu is a channel or watercourse — so like P-04 Xi Men and LU-06 Kong Zui, this is a point whose name announces its five-shu category rather than its position.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; LU-06, LU-07 and LU-09 positions queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 86): Above the wrist, 1 cun proximal to Taiyuan LU-9, on the line connecting Taiyuan LU-9 with Kongzui LU-6, in the depression at the base of the styloid process of the radius and on the radial side of the radial artery.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 138): 1 cun above the transverse crease of the wrist in the depression on the lateral side of the radial artery.

How is LU-08 Jing Qu needled, and what about the radial artery?

The standard texts record perpendicular insertion to roughly 0.1–0.3 inch — and our own record carries an explicit instruction to AVOID PUNCTURING THE RADIAL ARTERY. That caution is reproduced here as it stands in our data. What follows is a neutral record of what the reference literature documents, not instruction for a reader.

• Angle and depth as recorded: perpendicular, 0.1–0.3 inch — among the shallowest recorded depths on the channel, and the shallowness is the point.
• Our own record states: avoid puncturing the radial artery. The artery runs immediately alongside and beneath this point.
• Moxibustion: our record does not state it as applicable here, and none is asserted — unlike LU-05 and LU-06 on the same channel, where it does.
• Regional anatomy: the radial artery and its venae comitantes run along the radial border of the forearm at this level; the superficial branch of the radial nerve is nearby; the radial styloid forms the floor.

Why the Lung channel runs with the artery. The channel follows the radial border of the forearm, which is exactly where the radial artery lies — the reason LU-09, one cun distal, is the classical pulse-taking position. A caution about the artery on this stretch of channel is anatomical fact, not excessive caution.

What is not claimed. Our record for LU-09 states that no case report naming that point in a vascular injury was located, and gives a 31-case vascular-injury review for proportion instead. The same is true here: no case report naming LU-08 was located, and none is asserted. No study measuring a safe depth at LU-08 could be located, and none is borrowed.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record including the radial-artery caution, retained verbatim; LU-05, LU-06 and LU-09 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on LU-08, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates LU-08. Where the point appears it is one component of a respiratory protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

The calibration for this whole channel is worth carrying over. Our record for LU-07 Lie Que — a far more heavily used point — reports that the only head-to-head point-specific finding it has is negative: LU-07 behaved like the non-acupoint control when tested against P-06. If the channel’s cornerstone point has that as its best point-specific evidence, a minor horary point beside it should not be presented as having more.

What this page can state with confidence is the classification and the anatomy. LU-08 is the Jing-River and Metal point, and therefore the horary point of a yin Metal channel — checkable against our element records and agreeing with the four other Lung points already written. And it sits on the radial artery, which is why our own record carries an explicit caution and why the recorded depth is a tenth to three-tenths of an inch.

The trap this point illustrates. Metal on a Metal channel is horary, not sedation. The sedation point is the child element — LU-05 Chi Ze (Water). This library now carries that same warning on five channels: HT-08, P-08, SI-05, GB-44 and here. The mistake is common and choosing wrongly means choosing a point with the opposite intent.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (classification records; LU-07's research finding and the other horary-point records queried from our own data).