GB-35 (Yang Jiao) Yang Intersection

What does GB-35 Yang Jiao do?

Yang Jiao GB-35 is the Xi-Cleft point of the Yang Linking Vessel — the Yang Wei Mai — and not of the Gall Bladder channel itself, which is a distinction that decides everything about the point. It sits on the outer side of the lower leg on the Gall Bladder Channel of Foot Shao Yang, but the classification it carries belongs to one of the eight extraordinary vessels. Xi-Cleft points are the tradition's points for acute conditions, so GB-35's formal role is the acute point of the vessel that links the yang channels together.

• Moderates acute conditions of the Yang Linking Vessel — the Xi-Cleft action proper, applied to the sudden and severe rather than the long-standing. The Yang Linking Vessel is described as binding the yang channels to one another, and its classical pathology is exterior in nature: alternating chills and fever, and disorders of the outer, lateral body.
• Activates the channel and alleviates pain — the local and channel action recorded in our own sources, applied to pain, weakness and wasting of the lateral lower leg and to the Shao Yang course down the side of the body.
• Regulates Gall Bladder qi and calms the spirit — the second recorded action, and the basis of its classical listing for fright, agitation and mental restlessness, and for fullness of the chest and rib-side.
• Benefits the chest and hypochondrium — the extension of the same action up the channel. Shao Yang pathology is characteristically lateral, and a distal point on the lateral leg is the tradition's route to the flanks.

Note what GB-35 is not. It carries no five-shu or element assignment, no yuan, luo, back-shu, front-mu or confluent classification. Its whole formal identity is the extraordinary-vessel Xi-Cleft role, and it is one of the less-used points of a busy channel.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, Xi-Cleft of the Yang Linking Vessel classification, existing action record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 452); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 219); cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is GB-35 Yang Jiao used for?

Yang Jiao GB-35 is used for fullness and pain of the chest and rib-side, and for weakness, wasting and pain of the outer lower leg. Its recorded indication list is short — this is a minor point on a major channel. The indications below are those carried in Sacred Lotus sources & references together with those set out in the standard reference literature. They describe traditional use, not proven treatment.

• Fullness and distension of the chest
• Pain in the hypochondriac region — the flank and rib-side
• Muscular atrophy, weakness and paralysis of the leg
• Pain and weakness of the lateral aspect of the lower leg
• Pain and swelling of the knee
• Fright, agitation and mental restlessness
• Mania and manic-depressive states
• Swollen and painful throat
• Alternating chills and fever — the classical Yang Linking Vessel pattern

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing indication record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 452); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 219).

Where is GB-35 Yang Jiao, and how is it used in practice?

Yang Jiao lies on the outer side of the lower leg, seven cun above the tip of the outer ankle bone, in the hollow at the back edge of the fibula. That last detail is the whole location. Seven cun above the outer ankle, two points sit on the same level on opposite borders of the same bone: GB-35 behind it, and Wai Qiu GB-36 in front of it. Nothing but the front-or-back edge of the fibula distinguishes them, and they are among the most commonly confused pair of points on the leg.

Which points is GB-35 combined with?

• With Wai Guan SJ-05 — the Confluent point of the Yang Linking Vessel, and the natural partner for a point classified as that vessel's Xi-Cleft. The Confluent point opens the vessel; the Xi-Cleft point addresses it acutely. SJ-05 is by far the busier of the two.
• With Yang Ling Quan GB-34 and Qi Men LIV-14 — for fullness and pain of the chest and flanks, adding the He-Sea point of the channel and the Front-Mu point of the Liver.
• With Xuan Zhong GB-39 and Zu San Li ST-36 — for weakness and wasting of the leg, the standard combination for that indication on the lateral lower leg.
• With Feng Shi GB-31 and Huan Tiao GB-30 — along the same channel for pain and weakness down the outer thigh and leg.
• Method — Sacred Lotus sources & references record moxibustion as applicable at this point.
• Honest note on frequency — GB-35 is a comparatively little-used point. Its immediate neighbours GB-34, GB-37, GB-39 and GB-40 cover most of the same ground with stronger classifications behind them, and in practice the Yang Linking Vessel is far more often approached through SJ-05 than through GB-35.

Where does GB-35 sit among its category peers?

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). GB-35 belongs to the second group — and the Gall Bladder channel is the only channel in the body that carries a member of both groups, since GB-36 Wai Qiu is its own Xi-Cleft point and GB-35 is the Yang Linking Vessel's. That is the single fact most worth taking away from this page.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (both location records, the Xi-Cleft of the Yang Linking Vessel classification, the complete sixteen-point Xi-Cleft set and the GB-30, GB-31, GB-34, GB-36, GB-37, GB-38, GB-39, SJ-05, ST-36 and LIV-14 records, all queried directly in the live point records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 452); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 219); cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is GB-35 located?

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 452): On the lateral aspect of the lower leg, 7 cun superior to the prominence of the lateral malleolus, in the depression at the posterior border of the fibula.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 219): 7 cun above the tip of the external malleolus, on the posterior border of the fibula.

How is GB-35 Yang Jiao needled in the textbooks?

Reference record only — this documents what the standard texts state, not instruction for a reader. Sacred Lotus sources & references record perpendicular insertion of 0.5 to 0.8 inch at GB-35, with moxibustion noted as applicable. Deadman & Al-Khafaji record a comparable perpendicular range at this point.

• Angle documented: perpendicular.
• Depth documented: approximately 0.5–0.8 cun.
• Moxibustion: documented as applicable.

What lies beneath the point

This is a low-hazard point, and it is worth saying so directly rather than attaching a generic warning. GB-35 lies against the back edge of the fibula in the mid-to-lower outer leg, with bone immediately deep to it. There is no lung, no body cavity, no viscus and no great vessel within reach of the recorded depth, and the standard references attach no special prohibition to it. It carries none of the anatomical exposure of Jian Jing GB-21 over the apex of the lung, of the points over the thorax, or of the abdominal points over the viscera. The structure of note in this region is the common peroneal nerve and its branches, which wind around the neck of the fibula considerably higher up the leg, near GB-34 rather than near GB-35 — a sharp radiating sensation down the leg is the recognised occurrence at the upper point, not at this one.

The point's sensitivity has been measured, and the result is unremarkable in an interesting way. In a study of pain thresholds at named points on the leg in 66 healthy volunteers, the points at the level of Xia Ju Xu ST-39 were compared — ST-39 itself, Wai Qiu GB-36, Yang Jiao GB-35, Fei Yang BL-58 and Lou Gu SP-07. There was no significant difference in pain threshold among the five points; but all five had a lower threshold — that is, were more sensitive — than a non-point one cun to the side of ST-39 (Zhen Ci Yan Jiu 2013;38(1):68–72, PMID 23650804). GB-35 is therefore no more or less tender than its neighbours, and the classical points as a group were measurably more sensitive than the tissue beside them.

No pregnancy contraindication is recorded for GB-35 in our sources or in the standard reference literature; on this channel that caution attaches to Jian Jing GB-21. Standard clean-needle practice applies. For context rather than alarm: a meta-analysis of prospective clinical studies estimated serious adverse events from acupuncture at approximately 1 per 10,000 patients and around 8 per million treatments, and concluded that acupuncture is among the safer treatments in medicine (Bäumler P et al., BMJ Open 2021;11:e045961, PMID 34489268). Those events cluster at a small number of anatomically exposed points, and GB-35 is not among them.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing needling record, both location records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 452); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 219); PMID 23650804; PMID 34489268 — each verified resolvable and checked for retraction status before citation.

What does the name Yang Jiao mean?

Yang Jiao means "Yang Intersection" — yang, the bright, outer, lateral aspect, and jiao, to cross, meet or intersect. Sacred Lotus sources & references translate it exactly that way. The name is a statement of the point's classification rather than a description of its surroundings, which is comparatively rare. The yang is the outer side of the leg, where the point sits; the intersection is the Yang Linking Vessel, the extraordinary vessel whose whole function is to link — to intersect with — the yang channels of the body and bind them together. The point is named for the vessel it belongs to.

Is GB-35 the Xi-Cleft point of the Gall Bladder channel?

No. This is the single most important correction on this page. GB-35 Yang Jiao is the Xi-Cleft point of the Yang Linking Vessel (Yang Wei Mai). The Xi-Cleft point of the Gall Bladder channel itself is GB-36 Wai Qiu. Both are held in this library and both carry their classification in our own records: GB-36 is recorded as a plain "Xi (Cleft) Point", which is the primary-channel form, and GB-35 as "Xi-Cleft Point of the Yang Linking Vessel", which is the extraordinary-vessel form.

The confusion is entirely understandable, because the two points are almost on top of one another:

• GB-35 Yang Jiao — 7 cun above the tip of the outer ankle bone, on the posterior border of the fibula. Xi-Cleft point of the Yang Linking Vessel.
• GB-36 Wai Qiu — 7 cun above the tip of the outer ankle bone, on the anterior border of the fibula. Xi-Cleft point of the Gall Bladder channel.

Same height, same bone, opposite edges, different classifications and different clinical roles — GB-36's recorded actions are to activate the channel and to clear heat and resolve toxicity, with rabies among its classical indications, where GB-35's belong to the Yang Linking Vessel and to the flanks. Anyone reading a prescription that says only "the Xi-Cleft point on the lateral lower leg" has been given an ambiguous instruction; the point code is the only reliable discriminator.

What is the Yang Linking Vessel, and why does it have a Xi-Cleft point?

The Yang Linking Vessel, Yang Wei Mai, is one of the eight extraordinary vessels. Its described function is to link and bind the yang channels of the body to one another, and its classical pathology is correspondingly exterior: alternating chills and fever, and disorders of the lateral and outer body. Sacred Lotus sources & references record its Confluent point as Wai Guan SJ-05 on the forearm, paired in the classical eight-Confluent scheme with Zu Lin Qi GB-41 of the Girdling Vessel — that pair being the standard opening for Shao Yang and lateral-body complaints. The vessel's meeting points along its course are also recorded here and are heavily concentrated on the Gall Bladder channel: BL-63 Jin Men, SJ-13 Nao Hui, SJ-15 Tian Liao, SI-10 Nao Shu, GB-21 Jian Jing, GB-20 Feng Chi, and then the run of head points GB-13 Ben Shen, GB-14 Yang Bai, GB-15 Tou Lin Qi, GB-16 Mu Chuang, GB-17 Zheng Ying, GB-18 Cheng Ling and GB-19 Nao Kong, with DU-15 Ya Men and DU-16 Feng Fu on the midline of the nape.

Four of the eight extraordinary vessels are given a Xi-Cleft point in the classical scheme — the two Linking vessels and the two Motility vessels — and all four are on the lower leg: GB-35 Yang Jiao for the Yang Linking, KI-09 Zhu Bin for the Yin Linking, BL-59 Fu Yang for the Yang Motility and KI-08 Jiao Xin for the Yin Motility. All four are held in this library. The Conception, Governing, Penetrating and Girdling vessels carry no Xi-Cleft point.

Why does the Xi-Cleft classification matter at all?

Xi means a cleft, crevice or fissure. The classical description is that the qi and blood of a channel or vessel 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 qi and blood are concentrated there, the point is where the tradition intervenes when something has flared suddenly. That is the single rule to carry away: Xi-Cleft points are the acute points. A secondary rule applies to the primary channels only — the Xi-Cleft points of the yin channels are additionally used for disorders of blood, including bleeding, which is why LU-06 is used for coughing blood and SP-08 and LIV-06 for excessive uterine bleeding. GB-35 belongs to a yang vessel, so the bleeding indication does not attach to it; its role is the acute one, applied to the Yang Linking Vessel and to the lateral body.

Is there research on GB-35 Yang Jiao?

The honest answer is that there is essentially no clinical research on this point, and that should be stated plainly rather than filled in with studies about other things. Two published studies name Yang Jiao, and neither is a clinical trial:

• Sensory measurement — the only human data. The pain-threshold study described under needling measured Yang Jiao GB-35 by name against Wai Qiu GB-36, Xia Ju Xu ST-39, Fei Yang BL-58 and Lou Gu SP-07 in 66 healthy volunteers, finding no difference among the five classical points but a significantly higher threshold at the adjacent non-point (PMID 23650804). This is a measurement of the point's sensitivity, not of any therapeutic effect.
• A pharmacological experiment in which it served as a control. A study of aconitine injected at different sites in rabbits used Yangjiao GB-35 as one of the comparison sites alongside Nei Guan P-06, San Yin Jiao SP-06 and a non-channel non-point, testing whether the Pericardium channel specifically mitigated aconitine-induced arrhythmia. Only the Neiguan group showed a favourable recovery-time and arrhythmia profile; the GB-35 group did not differ from intramuscular injection (Ni F et al., Chin J Integr Med 2013;19(1):36–41, PMID 23275014). GB-35 appears here as a negative control on another channel, which is a legitimate use of the point in a study design but tells us nothing about what GB-35 does.

What is missing should be said plainly: no randomised trial isolates GB-35, and none of its recorded indications — chest and flank fullness, leg weakness, fright — has been tested at this point. Nor has the Yang Linking Vessel's Xi-Cleft role been examined experimentally. A reader searching for evidence about this point will find very little, and the reason is simply that it is a minor point that modern research has not taken up.

How does GB-35 compare with the points around it?

This stretch of the outer lower leg holds four points in four cun, and telling them apart is the practical skill. Wai Qiu GB-36 is at the same height as GB-35 on the front edge of the fibula and is the Gall Bladder channel's own Xi-Cleft point — the pair discussed above. Guang Ming GB-37, five cun above the ankle, is the channel's Luo-Connecting point and the eye point, connecting to the Liver. Yang Fu GB-38, four cun above, is the Jing-River and Fire point and the channel's sedation point — Fire being the child of the Gall Bladder's Wood. Xuan Zhong GB-39, three cun above, is the Hui-Meeting Point for Marrow. Higher up, Yang Ling Quan GB-34 below the head of the fibula is the He-Sea and Earth point and the Hui-Meeting Point of the Sinews, and by a wide margin the most used point of the group. Reading them in order — GB-34, GB-35, GB-36, GB-37, GB-38, GB-39 — gives six adjacent points with six entirely different classifications, which is a good illustration of how little the position of a point on a channel tells you about its office.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (name, translation, the Xi-Cleft of the Yang Linking Vessel classification, the complete sixteen-point Xi-Cleft set, the full Yang Linking Vessel meeting-point set, and the GB-34, GB-36, GB-37, GB-38, GB-39, SJ-05, GB-41, KI-08, KI-09 and BL-59 records, all queried directly in the live point records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 452); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 219); Nan Jing (Classic of Difficulties) and Zhen Jiu Jia Yi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion), on the Xi-Cleft points and the extraordinary vessels; PMID 23650804; PMID 23275014 — each verified resolvable and checked for retraction status before citation; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.