DU-07 (Zhong Shu) Central Pivot

What does DU-07 Zhong Shu do?

DU-07 benefits the spine and benefits the middle jiao — two purely regional actions, the plainest action record on this stretch of the Governing Vessel.

• Benefits the spine
• Benefits the middle jiao — the classical middle burner, the digestive region

Two pivots, two points apart. DU-05 Xuan Shu is the Suspended Pivot and DU-07 is the Central Pivot. Both names use shu in its sense of a hinge or pivot, and both describe the spine mechanically — DU-05 at the waist where the trunk turns, DU-07 higher up at the middle of the back. Names on this vessel divide fairly neatly into gates (men, guan), pivots (shu) and plain positions, and this pair is the clearest example of the middle group.

Three “-shu” names on this stretch, and none is a Back-Shu point. DU-02 Yao Shu, DU-05 Xuan Shu and DU-07 Zhong Shu all sit on the midline. The Back-Shu points are a different set entirely, every one on the inner Bladder line 1.5 cun lateral — and several of those also end in -shu, which is precisely why the two groups are so easily conflated from a point list. Worth adding for anyone working from our data: our category fields store no Back-Shu designation at all, confirmed by query.

Where the middle-jiao action comes from. DU-07 sits below the tenth thoracic vertebra, and the Back-Shu points of the digestive organs sit at neighbouring levels on either side — BL-19 Dan Shu at T10, the Gallbladder’s, at the same level as this point. A midline point taking its action from the level it occupies is the segmental logic of the back, the same reasoning our DU-06 record sets out for the Spleen.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (vessel, action, location and translation records; the DU-02, DU-05, DU-06 and BL-19 records queried and compared, and the absence of a stored Back-Shu category confirmed, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is DU-07 Zhong Shu used for?

DU-07 is used for epigastric pain, low back pain, and stiffness of the back. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full — three entries, the shortest list on this stretch.

• Pain in the epigastric region
• Low back pain
• Stiffness of the back

Every one of the three also appears on a neighbour, and the page says so. Comparing all six records from DU-01 to DU-07: epigastric pain is shared with DU-06; back pain and stiffness recur across almost the whole stretch. There is nothing recorded at DU-07 that is unique to it. Where a point’s distinguishing feature is its position rather than its indication list, this library states that plainly instead of implying a specialism the source material does not support — the same finding recorded at BL-06 in the scalp run.

An honest note. Epigastric pain that is severe, persistent, or accompanied by weight loss, vomiting, black stools or difficulty swallowing requires medical assessment. Pain in this region can also originate in the heart rather than the stomach, and chest or upper-abdominal pain with breathlessness, sweating or pain spreading to the arm or jaw is a medical emergency. Back pain with leg weakness, saddle numbness or any change in bladder or bowel control is likewise an emergency. This record documents classical use and should not delay any of that.

How it is combined. With DU-06 Ji Zhong below at T11 and DU-08 Jin Suo above at T9. With BL-19 Dan Shu at the same level laterally, and BL-20 Pi Shu and BL-21 Wei Shu below it — those are Back-Shu points, in contrast to this one. With ST-36 Zu San Li and REN-12 Zhong Wan for the epigastric indication — REN-12 being the Hui-Meeting point of the fu organs. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication record; the indication lists of DU-01 to DU-07 compared, and the BL-06, BL-19, BL-20, BL-21, DU-06, DU-08, REN-12 and ST-36 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is DU-07 Zhong Shu located?

DU-07 is on the midline of the back, in the depression below the spinous process of the TENTH THORACIC vertebra.

• On the midline, below the T10 spinous process
• DU-06 Ji Zhong lies below at T11; DU-08 Jin Suo lies above at T9
• BL-19 Dan Shu, the Gallbladder’s Back-Shu point, sits at the same level 1.5 cun to each side

This is the one part of the run with no gaps. Querying our own location records, the Governing Vessel runs continuously through the mid-thoracic spine — DU-07 at T10, DU-06 at T11, DU-08 at T9 — one point per vertebra. The gaps begin below DU-06: T12 and L3 carry no Governing Vessel point, both confirmed by query. A reader who learns the mid-thoracic run as one-per-vertebra and continues that assumption downward will misplace every lumbar point, and this is the level at which the assumption stops holding.

How the count is established. Counting down from DU-14 Da Zhui, below the prominent vertebra at the base of the neck, reaches T10 at the tenth level — the long way, with accumulating error. The check from below is the intercristal line at about L4 where DU-03 sits, counting up and allowing for the two empty levels. Our DU-03 and DU-06 records set both methods out.

On the name. “Zhong Shu” — Central Pivot. Positional and mechanical, paired with DU-05 Xuan Shu, the Suspended Pivot, two points below.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the DU-03, DU-05, DU-06, DU-08, DU-14 and BL-19 levels queried, and the absence of T12 and L3 points confirmed, against our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 539): On the midline of the back, in the depression below the spinous process of the tenth thoracic vertebra.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 230): Below the spinous process of the tenth thoracic vertebra.

How is DU-07 Zhong Shu needled?

Our own record states perpendicular insertion of 0.5–1.0 inch, 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, 0.5–1.0 inch.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable. Comparing this stretch, moxibustion is stated at DU-01, DU-02, DU-03, DU-05 and DU-07 but not at DU-06 — our DU-06 record sets out that omission and the classical moxibustion prohibition recorded at Ji Zhong.
• Regional anatomy: the supraspinous and interspinous ligaments lie in the midline with the erector spinae either side; the vertebral arch lies beneath, and within the canal at this level lies the spinal cord.

Hazard, stated proportionately. With the needle perpendicular in the midline the vertebral arch lies beneath it, and the recorded depth keeps it in ligament and muscle. DU-07 sits at cord level — the cord ends around L1–L2 in adults, so every thoracic point is above the terminus; our DU-03 and DU-05 records set that boundary out. This is not a high-hazard point, and the recorded depth is what makes that so.

A distinction that belongs to the points beside this one, not to this one. The off-midline points at this level lie over the thorax with lung beneath, and our BL-19 and BL-12 records carry pneumothorax cautions and measured pleural depths for that reason. DU-07 is on the midline over the vertebral arch, where the lung is not beneath the needle. The distinction is anatomical and exact, and it is stated here so a reader neither imports a neighbour’s hazard nor exports this point’s position to points 1.5 cun away where it does not hold.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at DU-07 could be located, and none is borrowed. The paediatric CT study this library uses measures the Governing Vessel points DU-09 to DU-14, skin to the epidural layer — two levels above this one — and DU-07 is not among them. No figure is carried across, and no case report naming DU-07 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged, and the moxibustion statements across DU-01 to DU-07 compared; the BL-12 and BL-19 records and the point list of PMID 26922245 / PMC4769822 queried and confirmed not to include DU-07), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on DU-07, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates DU-07. Where the point appears it is one component of a back or digestive protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence, including what it cannot. DU-07 sits below the T10 spinous process, level with BL-19 on either side, in the one part of this run with no gaps — one point per vertebra through the mid-thoracic spine, before T12 and L3 turn up empty lower down. Its indication list is three entries and every one of them appears on a neighbour; there is nothing recorded here unique to this point. That is the honest description, and a page claiming more would be padding.

A note for anyone comparing point lists. Three points on this short stretch end in -shu — DU-02, DU-05 and DU-07 — and none is a Back-Shu point, while several Bladder-channel points ending the same way are. Our records also hold outright name collisions elsewhere: KI-20 and BL-66 are both called Tong Gu. Point names are not unique identifiers, and a code should always be read alongside the name.

A note on searching for it. “GV 7”, “DU 7” and “Zhongshu” searches return protocol trials and a large volume of unrelated material — Zhongshu is a common personal name and also a word appearing in institutional names. Our library codes this vessel DU- while much of the literature uses GV-. 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 DU-01 to DU-08 levels and indication lists, and the KI-20 / BL-66 name collision, queried and verified against our own data).