BL-29 (Zhong Lu Shu) Central Backbone Shu

What does BL-29 Zhong Lu Shu do?

BL-29 benefits the lumbar region, and it dispels COLD and stops diarrhoea — the only point in this lumbosacral group whose recorded action names cold.

• Benefits the lumbar region — the local action
• Dispels cold and stops diarrhoea — and the cold is the distinguishing word

Why that matters for reading the point. Comparing the group, BL-26 regulates the lower jiao and BL-30 regulates menstruation and stops discharge — both phrased in terms of regulation. BL-29 alone is phrased in terms of a pathogenic factor to be driven out. In classical terms cold in the lower burner produces exactly the picture this point’s indications describe: cold aching in the back and loose stools. Action and indications are internally coherent here.

Its name describes the spine, and our record gives it twice. “Zhong Lu Shu” means Central Backbone Shu, and our data holds “Mid-Spine Shu” as a second designation — the same sense stated again. Lu refers to the ridge of the backbone itself, so the name is purely positional.

Its place among the -shu names. Nineteen points on this channel end in -shu; twelve are organ Back-Shu points and seven, including this one, are not. Our BL-26 record sets out the full breakdown — including the finding that BL-24 and BL-26 are named after Conception Vessel points rather than organs — and our DU-02 record documents the same trap on the Governing Vessel.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, category, action and translation records; the BL-26 and BL-30 action records compared, every -shu name on this channel queried, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is BL-29 Zhong Lu Shu used for?

BL-29 is used for dysentery, hernia, and stiffness and pain of the lower back. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full — three entries.

• Dysentery
• Hernia
• Stiffness and pain of the lower back

The shortest list of the three lumbosacral inner-line points. Comparing our records directly: BL-30 carries nine indications, BL-26 six, and BL-29 three. Where a record is short this library says so rather than filling the space — the same treatment given to BL-06, BL-38, BL-45 and DU-07. What BL-29 does hold is coherent: a bowel entry matching its cold-dispelling action, a lower-abdominal entry, and the local back entry.

An honest note, and the first entry is the urgent one. DYSENTERY — DIARRHOEA WITH BLOOD AND FEVER — IS A SERIOUS INFECTION REQUIRING MEDICAL CARE. It causes dehydration quickly, particularly in the very young and the elderly, and some causes are life-threatening and treatable. There is no circumstance in which it should be managed by a classical indication rather than treated. A hernia that becomes painful, tense or irreducible is a surgical emergency requiring immediate care; any hernia warrants medical assessment. Back pain with leg weakness, saddle numbness or any change in bladder or bowel control is likewise an emergency. This record documents historical use only.

How it is combined. With BL-28 Pang Guang Shu above and BL-30 Bai Huan Shu below on the same line. With BL-33 Zhong Liao, which sits over the third sacral foramen medial to this point at the same level. With BL-23 Shen Shu and DU-04 Ming Men for the cold indications. With ST-25 Tian Shu, the Front-Mu point of the Large Intestine, for the bowel. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; the indication lists of BL-26, BL-29 and BL-30 counted and compared, and the BL-06, BL-23, BL-28, BL-30, BL-33, BL-38, BL-45, DU-04, DU-07 and ST-25 records queried, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is BL-29 Zhong Lu Shu located?

BL-29 is on the buttock, an inch and a half out from the midline, level with the third posterior sacral foramen.

• 1.5 cun lateral to the midline, at the level of the third posterior sacral foramen
• BL-33 Zhong Liao sits over that foramen, medial to this point at the same level
• BL-28 Pang Guang Shu lies above at the second sacral level; BL-30 below at the fourth

The level is given by a foramen, not a vertebra. On the thoracic and lumbar back every point is located by counting spinous processes, and a miscount displaces everything below. On the sacrum the vertebrae are fused and the spinous processes reduced to a ridge, so our records use the posterior sacral foramina — which can be felt — as the reference instead. BL-29’s level can be fixed from BL-33 in the third foramen and the 1.5 cun measured laterally. Our BL-31 and BL-34 records set out the foramina as landmarks.

A naming coincidence worth separating. BL-33 is Zhong Liao — Middle Bone Hole — and BL-29 is Zhong Lu Shu, Central Backbone Shu. Two points at the same level, both beginning Zhong, meaning central or middle, and they are different points on different lines with different roles. The shared syllable is not a shared classification, which is the same lesson our BL-38 and BL-08 records draw from their own names.

A practical note. This point is on the buttock, and treatment here calls for the same standards of consent, draping and professional conduct that apply anywhere on that region.

On the name. “Zhong Lu Shu” — Central Backbone Shu, given in our record also as Mid-Spine Shu. Positional.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location, category and translation records, retained unchanged; the BL-08, BL-28, BL-30, BL-31, BL-33, BL-34 and BL-38 records queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 291): 1.5 cun lateral to the midline, at the level of the third posterior sacral foramen.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 181): 1.5 cun lateral to the Governor Vessel, at the level of the third posterior sacral foramen.

How is BL-29 Zhong Lu Shu needled?

Our own record states perpendicular insertion of 0.8–1.2 inches, with moxibustion applicable. 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, 0.8–1.2 inches — the same range our records give at BL-26, BL-30, BL-31, BL-34 and BL-53. Across the whole lumbosacral region our recorded depths agree, which is an internal consistency worth noting; the thoracic points above are recorded at 0.3–0.5 inch oblique, less than half as deep.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable. Note that BL-30, one level below, is the single point in this group whose record omits it.
• Regional anatomy: the origin of gluteus maximus and the erector spinae overlie the sacrum; the sacrum lies beneath, with the pelvic cavity beyond the bone; the third sacral nerve emerges through the foramen medial to the point.

Hazard, stated proportionately. No pleura, no kidney, no body cavity within reach — the thoracic and renal hazards this library documents higher on the channel do not extend here. Solid sacral bone lies beneath with muscle above it, and the recorded depth reflects that thickness rather than greater licence.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at BL-29 could be located, and none is borrowed. The paediatric chest-CT study covers 23 points on the trunk and shoulder from DU-09 upward; the kidney-region MRI measured BL-21, BL-22, BL-23, BL-50, BL-51 and BL-52. Neither reaches the sacrum. Verified. No case report naming BL-29 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged, and the recorded depths and moxibustion statements across BL-26, BL-30, BL-31, BL-34 and BL-53 queried and compared; the point lists of PMID 26922245 and PMID 36075596 confirmed not to include BL-29), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on BL-29, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates BL-29. Where the point appears it is one component of a low-back or pelvic protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point. It is one of the less-used points on the channel.

The nearby points that carry a literature are the liao group, BL-31 to BL-34, one of which sits at this very level. As our BL-31 and BL-34 records set out, they are almost always needled as a set, so even there the evidence attaches to the group. BL-29 borrows nothing from it.

What this page can state with confidence. BL-29 sits at the level of the third sacral foramen on the inner line, and its level can be fixed from BL-33 rather than by counting vertebrae. It has the shortest indication list of the three lumbosacral inner-line points — three entries against BL-26’s six and BL-30’s nine, counted from our own records. And it is the only one of the three whose action names cold, which is what its bowel indication rests on. Those are the honest facts about it; a page claiming more would be padding.

A note on searching for it. “BL 29”, “UB 29” and “Zhonglushu” searches return protocol trials and unrelated material matched on transliteration, and note the neighbouring Zhong Liao (BL-33) at the same level — similar name, different point, different line. Our library codes this channel BL- while some sources use UB-. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (action, indication, location and translation records; the indication lists of the three lumbosacral inner-line points counted and compared, and the BL-31, BL-33 and BL-34 records queried, against our own data).