SI-01 (Shao Ze) Lesser Marsh

What does SI-01 Shao Ze do?

SI-01 clears heat and benefits the sensory orifices, revives consciousness, and promotes lactation and benefits the breasts — and that last action is what makes a fingertip Jing-Well point a classical point for the nursing mother.

• Clears heat and benefits the sensory orifices — the eyes, ears and throat, the Jing-Well heat function
• Revives consciousness — the Jing-Well emergency function shared across the twelve well points
• Promotes lactation and benefits the breasts — the action it is best known for

SI-01 is the principal Jing-Well lactation point, and that is worth stating. Ten points in our data carry a lactation action or indication — among them REN-17, the qi-gathering point of the chest, and the breast points ST-18, SI-11 and SI-12 — but SI-01 is the classical distal point for insufficient milk, reached from the little fingertip. The Small Intestine channel’s relationship with the chest and the fluids is the traditional account.

Its five-shu role: the controlling element, and therefore no named role. The Small Intestine is a yang Fire channel, and SI-01 is its Metal point — and Fire controls Metal, so SI-01 is the controlling-element point, none of tonification, sedation or horary. From our own element data: SI-03 Hou Xi Wood (tonification), SI-05 Yang Gu Fire (horary), SI-08 Xiao Hai Earth (sedation), SI-01 Metal (controlling element), SI-02 Water. Our HT-04 and KI-02 records set out the same controlling-element logic.

On the name. “Shao Ze” means Lesser Marsh — shao lesser or minor, ze a marsh or shallow water. The Small Intestine is the Hand Tai Yang and pairs with the Heart (Hand Shao Yin); several of the Small Intestine and Heart Jing-Well and terminal points carry shao. The marsh is a shallow water at the fingertip, where the channel’s qi collects.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, element, action and translation records; the full Small Intestine five-shu series queried and SI-01 confirmed the Metal/controlling-element point, and every lactation point counted, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is SI-01 Shao Ze used for?

SI-01 is used for headache, febrile disease, loss of consciousness, insufficient breast milk, sore throat, red eyes and clouding of the cornea. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Headache
• Febrile diseases
• Loss of consciousness
• Insufficient lactation
• Sore throat
• Redness of the eye
• Cloudiness of the cornea

Two groups: the Jing-Well common stock, and the lactation-and-eye specialities. Headache, fever and collapse are shared across the twelve Jing-Well points. Insufficient lactation, sore throat and the eye entries are more particular to SI-01 — the eye and throat belonging to the “sensory orifices” its action names, and the lactation entry being its signature.

An honest note, and three entries need one. LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS IS A MEDICAL EMERGENCY requiring immediate care — this record documents the historical first-aid role of the Jing-Well points, not a suggestion that collapse be managed with acupuncture. CLOUDING OF THE CORNEA, AND A RED OR PAINFUL EYE, REQUIRE MEDICAL ASSESSMENT — a cloudy cornea can mean a sight-threatening problem, and some causes of a red eye are urgent. Sore throat with difficulty swallowing or breathing is an emergency, and fever with confusion needs care. This record documents classical use only.

On lactation, a practical and honest note. Difficulty with breastfeeding — low supply, pain, poor latch — is well supported by lactation specialists, midwives and health visitors, and that support is where a nursing mother should turn. A hot, red, painful area of the breast with fever may be mastitis and needs prompt medical assessment. This record documents a classical indication; it is not a substitute for skilled feeding support.

How it is combined. With REN-17 Shan Zhong and ST-18 Ru Gen at the breast for lactation — the classical distal-and-local combination. With SI-11 Tian Zong on the scapula, also a breast point. With the other Jing-Well points for collapse and fever. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; the REN-17, SI-11, SI-12 and ST-18 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is SI-01 Shao Ze located?

SI-01 is at the corner of the little fingernail on the outer (little-finger) side — the first point of the Small Intestine channel.

• On the little finger, at the junction of the ulnar (outer) nail border and the base of the nail
• Located by the standard two-line method, about 0.1 cun from the nail corner
• HT-09 Shao Chong sits at the other corner of the same nail, on the radial side — the Heart channel’s Jing-Well point

The little fingernail hosts two Jing-Well points, one corner each. SI-01 at the ulnar corner (the outer, little-finger side) and HT-09 Shao Chong at the radial corner (toward the ring finger) — the Small Intestine channel taking the outer side because it runs up the ulnar (little-finger) side of the arm, and the Heart channel the inner. This mirrors the big toe, where LIV-01 and SP-01 share the nail. Getting the correct corner is the whole of locating either, and confusing them substitutes a channel and an organ.

Eleven of the twelve Jing-Well points sit at a nail corner; our LU-11 record notes KI-01 on the sole as the exception. The little finger and the big toe are the two nails that each host two of them.

On the name. “Shao Ze” — Lesser Marsh, the shallow water at the fingertip.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged including the ulnar-corner specification; the HT-09, LIV-01, LU-11 and SP-01 records queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 231): On the dorsal aspect of the little finger, at the junction of lines drawn along the ulnar border of the nail and the base of the nail, approximately 0.1 cun from the corner of the nail.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 167): On the ulnar side of the little finger, about 0.1 cun from the corner of the nail.

How is SI-01 Shao Ze needled?

Our own record states SUBCUTANEOUS insertion of about 0.1 inch, or pricking the point to cause bleeding, with moxibustion applicable — the shallow depth and the bleeding option both standard for a Jing-Well point. What follows is a neutral record of what the reference literature documents. It is not instruction, and this page does not teach technique.

• Depth as recorded: subcutaneous, about 0.1 inch — there is almost no soft tissue at a fingertip.
• Bleeding technique: our record documents pricking to bleed, the classical method for the collapse, fever and heat indications. This is one of fourteen points in the library whose record documents a bleeding technique, counted by query and set out on our SJ-18 page — documented practice, not procedure, performed only by a qualified practitioner with single-use equipment.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable, and a classical method for insufficient lactation specifically.
• Regional anatomy: the nail bed and the tip of the distal phalanx lie beneath thin skin; the dorsal digital nerves and the digital vessels run along the finger’s margins; bone is immediately deep.

Hazard, stated proportionately. This is a low-hazard point: no cavity, no organ, no major vessel, and bone a fraction of an inch beneath. Fingertips are densely innervated and needling here is sharply felt.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at SI-01 could be located, and none is needed at a tenth of an inch. No case report naming SI-01 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged; the SJ-18 bleeding-technique set queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

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

No trial isolates SI-01. Where the point appears it is one component of a protocol — lactation, resuscitation or heat — and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

Insufficient lactation is where a reader will meet claims near this point. There is a small acupuncture and acupressure literature on it, mostly multi-point and of limited certainty. Whatever it shows, the practical guidance is the same and is the operative content here: feeding difficulty is best addressed with skilled lactation support, and a red, painful, feverish breast needs prompt medical assessment. This record documents a classical indication, not evidence of effect.

What this page can state with confidence. SI-01 is the Jing-Well and Metal point of the Small Intestine channel, and because that is a yang Fire channel and Fire controls Metal, it is the controlling-element point — none of tonification (SI-03), sedation (SI-08) or horary (SI-05). It is the principal Jing-Well lactation point, one of ten points in our data carrying a lactation action or indication. And it shares the little fingernail with HT-09: SI-01 at the outer corner, HT-09 at the inner, two channels one nail apart.

A note on searching for it. “SI 1”, “SI-01” and “Shaoze” searches return protocol trials and unrelated material — and “SI” also abbreviates the International System of Units, making the code alone a poor search term. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (element, action, indication and location records; the Small Intestine five-shu series, every lactation point, and the HT-09 shared-nail relationship queried, against our own data).