ST-34 (Liang Qiu) Beam Hill

What does ST-34 Liang Qiu do?

Liang Qiu ST-34 is the Xi-Cleft point of the Stomach channel of Foot Yang Ming, and that single classification explains nearly everything it is used for: it is the Stomach channel's point for ACUTE problems. Xi-Cleft points are the places where the qi and blood of a channel are said to gather and pour into a deep cleft, and the tradition turns to them when a complaint is sudden, severe and painful rather than long-standing. ST-34 therefore serves two acute territories at once — the knee it sits above, and the stomach its channel supplies.

• Moderates acute conditions — the Xi-Cleft action proper, and the reason ST-34 is chosen for a problem that has come on sharply rather than one that has been present for months.
• Harmonises the Stomach and alleviates pain — for acute gastric pain, and for the cramping, spasmodic epigastric pain the tradition describes as cold or stagnation seizing the Stomach.
• Activates the channel and alleviates pain — for acute knee pain, swelling and stiffness, and for numbness and weakness of the leg, ST-34 being the nearest Stomach-channel point above the kneecap.
• Reduces swelling of the breast — mastitis is carried in its indications; the Stomach channel is described as crossing the breast, which is the route the tradition gives for a point on the thigh reaching it.

The acute–chronic contrast is worth holding onto. For long-standing Stomach weakness the tradition goes to ST-36 Zu San Li, the He-Sea point; for a Stomach problem that has flared suddenly and painfully, it goes to ST-34.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel and Xi-Cleft classification, and the recorded actions above); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 156; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 154; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is ST-34 Liang Qiu used for?

Liang Qiu ST-34 is used above all for acute knee pain and acute stomach pain — the two complaints its Xi-Cleft classification and its position on the thigh combine to produce. The indications recorded in our sources divide into a knee-and-leg group, a digestive group, and the breast. These describe traditional use, not proven treatment.

• Pain of the knee
• Numbness of the knee
• Swelling and stiffness of the knee joint
• Motor impairment of the lower limb
• Acute gastric pain
• Cramping epigastric pain
• Mastitis (swelling and pain of the breast)

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing indication record); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 154; Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 156.

How is ST-34 Liang Qiu used in practice?

Liang Qiu lies on the front of the thigh about two cun above the upper outer corner of the kneecap, on the line running from the outer edge of the kneecap up toward the front point of the hip bone. Our sources record that it is located with the knee bent, when the depression above the patella becomes distinct. It is a firm, muscular point in the outer part of the quadriceps and is usually tender in knee complaints.

Which points is ST-34 combined with?

• With ST-35 Du Bi and Xi Yan — the standard local trio for the knee. ST-35 sits in the outer hollow beside the patellar ligament; the extra point Xi Yan ("Eyes of the Knee"), held here, occupies the hollows on both sides. ST-34 sits above them and completes the ring around the joint.
• With SP-10 Xue Hai — its mirror image on the inner side of the thigh, the same distance above the kneecap. The two are needled as a pair so often that they are effectively one prescription; SP-10 governs the blood aspect, ST-34 the acute pain.
• With GB-34 Yang Ling Quan and SP-09 Yin Ling Quan — the He-Sea points below the knee on either side, added to open the joint from below. GB-34 is also the influential point of the sinews.
• With He Ding — the extra point at the top of the kneecap, held here, added for knee pain and swelling.
• With REN-12 Zhong Wan, ST-36 Zu San Li and P-06 Nei Guan — the combination for the digestive side of ST-34: the front-mu point of the Stomach, the channel's He-Sea point and the Pericardium's connecting point, with ST-34 supplying the acute, pain-relieving element.

Where does ST-34 sit among the Xi-Cleft points?

All sixteen Xi-Cleft points are held in this library — the twelve primary channels plus the four extraordinary vessels that carry one. The primary-channel set is LU-06 Kong Zui, LI-07 Wen Liu, ST-34 Liang Qiu, SP-08 Di Ji, HT-06 Yin Xi, SI-06 Yang Lao, BL-63 Jin Men, KI-05 Shui Quan, P-04 Xi Men, SJ-07 Hui Zong, GB-36 Wai Qiu and LIV-06 Zhong Du; the extraordinary-vessel set is BL-59 Fu Yang (Yang Qiao), KI-08 Jiao Xin (Yin Qiao), GB-35 Yang Jiao (Yang Wei) and KI-09 Zhu Bin (Yin Wei). ST-34 is among the most used of them, largely because knee osteoarthritis is one of the conditions acupuncture is most often applied to.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location, categories and the full cross-referenced Xi-Cleft and knee-point records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 156; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 154; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is ST-34 located?

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 156): On the thigh, on a line drawn between the lateral border of the patella and the anterior superior iliac spine, in a depression 2 cun proximal to the superior border of the patella.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 154): When the knee is flexed, the point is 2 cun above the laterosuperior border of the patella.

How is ST-34 Liang Qiu needled in the textbooks?

Reference record only — this documents what the standard texts state, not instruction for a reader. Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion records perpendicular insertion of 0.5–1.0 cun at ST-34, with moxibustion noted as applicable. Deadman & Al-Khafaji record a comparable perpendicular range, and additionally describe oblique insertion directed distally toward the knee for local knee disorders.

• Angle documented: perpendicular; oblique distal variant recorded for knee problems.
• Depth documented: approximately 0.5–1.0 cun, with deeper insertion recorded in some references given the thickness of the quadriceps at this level.
• Moxibustion: documented as applicable. Warm needling — moxa burned on the needle handle — is one of the techniques studied at this point.

Safety reference. ST-34 lies in the muscle of the front of the thigh, above the knee joint and well clear of any body cavity; it carries no organ or pneumothorax hazard, and there is no joint space beneath it at the recorded depth. The femoral vessels and nerve run medially, not beneath this point, and the standard references record no vascular hazard here. Local ache and heaviness on needling are ordinarily documented, and bruising is possible in a muscular point. Our sources record no pregnancy contraindication for ST-34; that caution attaches to LI-04 and SP-06. 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. 154; Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 156; Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing needling record).

What does the name Liang Qiu mean?

Liang Qiu means "Beam Hill" — liang, a beam or ridge-pole, and qiu, a hill or mound. The name is topographical: with the knee bent and the thigh braced, the outer head of the quadriceps stands up as a raised ridge above the kneecap, and the point sits at the mound on that beam. Older commentaries also connect liang to the beam of a roof and read the point as the high place that shelters the joint below it.

Why does the Xi-Cleft classification matter at ST-34?

Xi-Cleft points are one of the standard point categories a student is expected to know, and they answer a single question: what do you use when a problem is acute? Xi means a cleft, crevice or fissure. The classical description is that the qi and blood of a channel, having risen from the fingers or toes, gather and pour deeply into a narrow cleft at these sites — typically in a gap between muscles or between muscle and bone on the forearm or lower leg. Because the channel's qi and blood are concentrated there, the point is where the tradition intervenes when something in that channel or its organ has flared suddenly.

There are sixteen: one for each of the twelve primary channels, plus one each for the Yin Qiao, Yang Qiao, Yin Wei and Yang Wei extraordinary vessels. Their use divides along a yin–yang line that is worth learning as a pair of rules:

• All Xi-Cleft points are used for acute conditions and acute pain in their own channel and organ — the general rule, and the one that applies to ST-34.
• The Xi-Cleft points of the yin channels are additionally used for disorders of blood, including bleeding. The examples held here show the pattern plainly: LU-06 Kong Zui for coughing blood, P-04 Xi Men for chest pain and vomiting of blood, HT-06 Yin Xi for night sweating and blood in the sputum, SP-08 Di Ji and LIV-06 Zhong Du for excessive uterine bleeding, KI-05 Shui Quan for irregular and painful menstruation.

ST-34 is on a yang channel, so the bleeding indication does not attach to it; its Xi-Cleft role is the acute-pain one, applied to the stomach and the knee. It is also sometimes described as a diagnostic point, tender on pressure when the channel is affected — a claim the sensitisation research below bears directly on.

Is there research on ST-34 Liang Qiu?

ST-34 appears in more research than most single points, but almost always as one member of a knee protocol rather than as the tested variable — and that distinction is kept here. The useful literature is of three kinds:

• Point-selection analyses. A data-mining review of forty-six electroacupuncture studies of knee osteoarthritis found ST-34 Liang Qiu among the most frequently used points, alongside ST-35 Du Bi, EX-LE4, SP-10 Xue Hai, GB-34 Yang Ling Quan and SP-09 Yin Ling Quan, and noted that the commonest selections cluster on the Stomach channel (Eur J Med Res 2022;27(1):162, PMID 36045455). A complex-network analysis of 444 acupuncture prescriptions for the same condition reached a comparable picture of core point combinations (Zhen Ci Yan Jiu 2022;47(1):65-70, PMID 35128873). This is evidence that ST-34 is consistently chosen by clinicians and trialists, not evidence of its independent effect.
• Point sensitisation — the most directly point-relevant work. A study of 814 patients with knee osteoarthritis and 217 healthy controls measured skin temperature and mechanical and pressure pain thresholds at the points most used for the condition, ST-34 among them, and reported that in patients the point temperature was raised and both pain thresholds lowered relative to healthy subjects (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2022;42(1):51-7, PMID 35025158). That is a large sample and it speaks to the traditional claim that a Xi-Cleft point becomes tender when its channel is disordered.
• Clinical trials in which ST-34 is part of a small protocol. A randomised trial of electroacupuncture before unsedated gastroscopy used a four-point protocol of LI-04, P-06, ST-36 and ST-34 in sixty patients and reported lower discomfort scores than sham (Complement Ther Med 2023;73:102936, PMID 36858243) — a small protocol, so ST-34 carries a real share of it, but still not isolated. A randomised trial of acupuncture at different treatment frequencies for functional dyspepsia included ST-34 in a seven-point prescription with REN-12, ST-25, P-06, GB-34, ST-36 and LIV-03 (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2023;43(6):622-6, PMID 37313554). A trial of fire needling for knee osteoarthritis with six-month follow-up likewise included ST-34 among its points (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2026;46(5):732-7, PMID 42116777).

One study is worth reporting for its negative-leaning result rather than a positive one: a near-infrared spectroscopy study of twenty-four knee osteoarthritis patients compared needling and warm needling at different points and found warm needling at SP-10 gave a greater improvement in local oxygen metabolism than at ST-34 (Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2025;13:1690336, PMID 41194977). It is small and mechanistic, but reporting only the flattering studies would misrepresent the field. No trial isolates ST-34 as a single point, and the site does not claim otherwise.

How does Liang Qiu differ from the points near it?

SP-10 Xue Hai is its counterpart on the inner thigh at the same height and the point it is most often paired with rather than confused with — SP-10 works on the blood, ST-34 on acute pain. ST-33 Yin Shi lies one cun higher on the same line and is the quieter neighbour, used for cold and numbness of the knee and thigh rather than for acute pain; the two are close enough that careful measurement from the top of the kneecap matters. ST-32 Fu Tu is higher again, at the mid-thigh. ST-35 Du Bi lies below the kneecap in the outer hollow, and the extra point He Ding sits at the top edge of the kneecap between them. Readers looking for the Stomach channel's general tonifying point want ST-36 Zu San Li, below the knee, not ST-34.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (name, categories and cross-referenced point records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 156; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 154; Nan Jing (Classic of Difficulties) and Zhen Jiu Jia Yi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion), on the Xi-Cleft points; PubMed PMID 36045455, 35128873, 35025158, 36858243, 37313554, 42116777, 41194977, each checked as active and not retracted; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.