Jian Nei Ling Inner Shoulder Mound

What does Jian Nei Ling do?

Jian Nei Ling activates qi and blood and removes obstruction from the local channels of the shoulder — an extra point on the front of the shoulder, a mainstay for anterior shoulder pain and frozen shoulder.

• Activates qi and blood and removes obstruction from the local shoulder channels — the core action for a stuck, painful joint
• Relieves anterior shoulder pain — especially when the pain radiates toward the front of the joint
• A workhorse point for frozen shoulder (periarthritis) with anterior involvement, easing stiffness and restricted movement
• Relieves numbness, heaviness and paralysis of the arm and shoulder

The anterior-shoulder point. Also called Jian Qian (“front of the shoulder”), this extra point fills a gap the channel points leave: it is the point of choice when shoulder pain is specifically at the front of the joint. It is classically one of a four-point ring around the shoulder — with LI-15 Jian Yu (upper/outer), SJ-14 Jian Liao (posterior/outer) and SI-09 Jian Zhen (lower/posterior) — the four together encircling the joint for a full shoulder treatment.

On the name. “Jian Nei Ling” means Inner Shoulder Mound — jian the shoulder, nei inner, ling a mound; the mound of muscle at the front-inner shoulder. Its alternative name Jian Qian marks the same front-of-shoulder position.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (extra-point action and translation records; the LI-15, SI-09 and SJ-14 records queried against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is Jian Nei Ling used for?

Jian Nei Ling is used for anterior shoulder pain and frozen shoulder, and for numbness, heaviness or paralysis of the arm and upper limb.

• Pain at the front of the shoulder, including pain radiating toward the front of the joint
• Frozen shoulder (periarthritis / adhesive capsulitis) with anterior involvement — stiffness and restricted movement
• Numbness, heaviness or paralysis of the arm and shoulder

Chosen for the front, specifically. Several sources note that Jian Nei Ling is reached for when the shoulder pain is anterior in nature, and is not usually the first choice for purely posterior or lateral shoulder pain — a genuine point-selection detail. It is often tender on palpation in shoulder disorders, which helps confirm it.

An honest note. Shoulder pain that follows an injury, or comes with weakness, deformity, inability to lift the arm, or fever, requires medical assessment. New weakness or numbness of an arm requires assessment — sudden onset can be neurological. Frozen shoulder itself benefits from medical assessment (and is associated with diabetes and thyroid disease). This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With LI-15 Jian Yu, SJ-14 Jian Liao and SI-09 Jian Zhen — the four-point ring around the shoulder — and with LI-11 Qu Chi and SJ-05 Wai Guan down the arm. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (extra-point action records; the LI-11, LI-15, SI-09, SJ-05 and SJ-14 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is Jian Nei Ling located?

Jian Nei Ling is on the front of the shoulder, midway between the front end of the armpit crease and the shoulder point LI-15.

• On the anterior (front) shoulder
• Midway between the anterior end of the axillary (armpit) fold and LI-15 Jian Yu — the standard description for this point

A note on our data. Our own record does not store a location field for this extra point, so we give the standard textbook location — midway between the front of the armpit fold and LI-15 — rather than a site from our own data. It is found by fixing those two landmarks and taking the midpoint, over the front of the shoulder muscle, where the point is often tender in shoulder pain.

On the name. “Jian Nei Ling” — Inner Shoulder Mound, also called Jian Qian (“front of the shoulder”), as noted above.

Source: standard extra-point location (midway between the anterior axillary fold and LI-15 Jian Yu), given because our own data stores no location for this point; the LI-15 reference point queried from our own data.

How is Jian Nei Ling needled?

Our record describes perpendicular insertion of roughly 0.8–1.5 cun, sometimes angled toward the back of the shoulder; some references also describe an oblique insertion toward the elbow of 2–3 cun. Moxibustion is 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, ~0.8–1.5 cun, sometimes angled posteriorly; or oblique toward the elbow, 2–3 cun.
• Moxibustion: applicable.
• Sensation: local distension and soreness, or an electric/numb feeling, are commonly reported.
• Regional anatomy: the front of the shoulder over the deltoid and the joint; the cephalic vein runs in the deltopectoral groove nearby; the shoulder joint and its capsule lie deep.

Hazard, stated proportionately. A moderate-care point: no arterial caution in our record (nor among the nine), but — as with all shoulder-girdle points — the needle is kept from angling deep and medially toward the chest, where the lung apex lies. Depth varies by source: some give 0.8–1.2 cun perpendicular, others ~1–1.5 cun; both are reflected as a combined range rather than a single figure.

What is not claimed. No safe-depth study could be located, and none is borrowed. No case report was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (extra-point needling record, retained unchanged including the source-depth discrepancy, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on Jian Nei Ling, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates Jian Nei Ling. Where it appears it is one component of a shoulder protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence. Jian Nei Ling (also Jian Qian, “front of the shoulder”) is an extra point on the anterior shoulder — the point of choice for front-of-shoulder pain and frozen shoulder with anterior involvement, and one of the four points classically encircling the shoulder (with LI-15, SJ-14, SI-09). Its location is given from the standard textbook description, our data storing none.

A note on searching for it. It is coded EX-UE (schemes vary; also M-UE-48) and appears as both “Jian Nei Ling” and “Jian Qian”. Any claim should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (extra-point action and needling records; the shoulder-ring channel points queried, against our own data).