GB-27 (Wu Shu) Fifth Pivot

What does GB-27 Wu Shu do?

GB-27 regulates the Girdling (Dai) vessel, and regulates the lower jiao and transforms stagnation — a point on the side of the lower abdomen where the Gall Bladder channel meets the belt-like Dai vessel.

• Regulates the Girdling vessel — the Dai Mai, the one extraordinary vessel that runs horizontally, encircling the waist like a belt
• Regulates the lower jiao and transforms stagnation — moving what is stuck in the lower abdomen

A Girdling-vessel point — and why that matters for discharge. Our record classifies GB-27 as a Meeting Point of the Gall Bladder channel with the Girdling (Dai) vessel. The Dai vessel binds the vertical channels at the waist, and its classical disorder is dai xia — literally “below the belt”, meaning abnormal vaginal discharge (leukorrhoea), which shares the vessel’s very name. So a point that regulates the Dai vessel treating leukorrhoea is not a coincidence: it is the vessel’s signature disorder. Three Gall Bladder points meet the Dai on the abdomen — GB-26 Dai Mai (the vessel’s namesake), GB-27 and GB-28 — while GB-41 on the foot is its distal confluent (opening) point.

On the name. “Wu Shu” means Fifth Pivot — wu five, shu a pivot or hinge. The reading usually offered relates the “fifth” to a counting of points or bodily divisions; the sense is not fully settled, and our record does not fix it.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, classification, action and translation records; the three Girdling-vessel Gall Bladder points — GB-26, GB-27, GB-28 — and GB-41 queried against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is GB-27 Wu Shu used for?

GB-27 is used for abnormal vaginal discharge, lower abdominal pain, low back pain, hernia, and constipation. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Leucorrhoea (abnormal vaginal discharge) — the classical Dai-vessel disorder
• Lower abdominal pain
• Lumbar (low back) pain
• Hernia
• Constipation

The Dai vessel’s territory, front and back. Leucorrhoea is the Girdling-vessel signature; lower abdominal pain, hernia and constipation are the lower-jiao-and-stagnation action; and the low back pain reflects the Dai vessel’s belt-like encircling of the waist, front to back. It is a coherent Dai-vessel list.

An honest note. Abnormal vaginal discharge requires medical assessment — infection (including sexually transmitted infection) is a common cause and needs proper diagnosis and treatment; a change in discharge, or discharge with pain, bleeding or odour, should be seen. Lower abdominal pain that is severe, sudden or persistent requires assessment. A hernia requires assessment; a hard, painful one is a surgical emergency. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With GB-26 Dai Mai and GB-28 Wei Dao — the other Girdling-vessel points — and with GB-41 Zu Lin Qi, the vessel’s confluent point on the foot; with SP-06 San Yin Jiao for discharge. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; the GB-26, GB-28, GB-41 and SP-06 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is GB-27 Wu Shu located?

GB-27 is on the side of the lower abdomen, just in front of the bony point of the hip, three cun below the level of the navel.

• On the lateral (side) lower abdomen
• Anterior to (in front of) the anterior superior iliac spine — the bony prominence at the front of the hip
• 3 cun below the level of the umbilicus (navel)

The hip bone is the landmark. The anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) — the sharp bony point at the front of the hip — is easily felt; GB-27 sits just in front of it, low on the side of the abdomen, level three cun below the navel. Its neighbour GB-28 Wei Dao sits just below and in front of GB-27, closer still to the hip bone.

On the name. “Wu Shu” — Fifth Pivot, as noted above.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the GB-28 record queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 444): In the depression just anterior to the anterior superior iliac spine, approximately level with Guanyuan REN-4 (3 cun below the umbilicus).
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 216): In the lateral side of the abdomen, anterior to the superior iliac spine, 3 cun below the level of the umbilicus.

How is GB-27 Wu 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.
• Regional anatomy: the point overlies the lateral abdominal wall (the oblique muscles) in front of the hip bone; deep to it lies the bowel in the lower abdomen, and in pregnancy the enlarging uterus; the iliac vessels run deeper in the pelvis.

Hazard, stated plainly. The consideration at a lower-abdominal point is the organs beneath — bowel, and in pregnancy the uterus; deep or careless needling of the lower abdomen in pregnancy is specifically to be avoided. Our record carries no arterial caution at GB-27, and it is not among the nine points that do. Not a point for self-treatment.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at GB-27 could be located, and none is borrowed. No case report naming GB-27 was located.

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

Is there research on GB-27, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates GB-27. Where the point appears it is one component of a gynaecological or lower-abdominal protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence. GB-27 Wu Shu (“Fifth Pivot”) is a lower-abdominal point and a Meeting Point of the Gall Bladder channel with the Girdling (Dai) vessel — one of three such points (with GB-26 Dai Mai and GB-28). Its leucorrhoea indication is the Dai vessel’s signature disorder (dai xia, “below the belt”), and its low back pain reflects the vessel’s belt-like encircling of the waist. It sits in front of the hip bone, 3 cun below the navel level.

A safety note. Abnormal vaginal discharge is a symptom to have diagnosed; this page records classical use and says so.

A note on searching for it. “GB 27”, “G 27” and “Wushu” searches are actively confusing — “Wushu” is the common word for Chinese martial arts, flooding any plain search. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (classification, action, indication and location records; the three Girdling-vessel points and GB-41 queried, against our own data).