KI-17 (Shang Qu) Shang Bend

What does KI-17 Shang Qu do?

KI-17 dispels accumulation and alleviates pain — a single recorded action, and the shortest action record of any point in the Kidney abdominal run.

• Dispels accumulation and alleviates pain — the whole of the recorded action

One action, three indications, and the page will not invent more. Comparing the six abdominal points, KI-17 has the shortest record of them: KI-18 carries three actions, KI-19, KI-20 and KI-21 two each, and KI-17 one. Where a record is short this library states its limits plainly rather than filling the space — the same treatment given to BL-06 in the scalp run, SI-13 on the scapula and DU-07 on the spine.

“Accumulation” is the operative word. In the classical vocabulary it means substance gathering and failing to move — food, phlegm or stagnant qi in the abdomen — and its counterpart in the indication list is constipation and abdominal pain. It is a narrower idea than the “regulates” and “harmonises” language our records use at the neighbouring points.

It is also a Meeting Point of the Kidney channel with the Penetrating Vessel (Chong Mai), a designation carried by the whole run from KI-16 to KI-21.

On the name. “Shang Qu” means Shang Bend. Shang is one of the five notes of the classical pentatonic scale, the one paired with the Metal element and the Lung — the same character as in SP-05 Shang Qiu, DU-23 Shang Xing and GB-03 Shang Guan. Qu is bent or crooked, as in LI-11 Qu Chi and SI-13 Qu Yuan. Musical-note names are rare in the system and worth noticing where they occur.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, category, action and translation records; the action records of KI-16 to KI-21 counted and compared, and the BL-06, DU-07, DU-23, GB-03, LI-11, SI-13 and SP-05 records checked, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is KI-17 Shang Qu used for?

KI-17 is used for abdominal pain, diarrhoea and constipation. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full — three entries.

• Abdominal pain
• Diarrhoea
• Constipation

Diarrhoea and constipation appearing together is not a contradiction. The classical framing is restoring normal function in either direction — our KI-16 and DU-01 records carry the same pairing for the same reason. It is worth stating because a list containing opposites can look like an error and is not.

Unlike several of its neighbours, its two fields agree. This library has documented six records where the action field claims what the indication list does not support — BL-11, BL-51, BL-55, KI-19, KI-20 and KI-26. KI-17 is not among them: one action about accumulation and pain, three indications that are exactly that. Where the fields correspond, either can be relied on.

An honest note. Abdominal pain that is severe, sudden or persistent requires medical assessment; its causes include surgical emergencies. A lasting change in bowel habit, or diarrhoea or constipation with blood, weight loss or vomiting, requires assessment. Persistent diarrhoea causes dehydration, particularly in the very young and the elderly, and needs care. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With REN-10 Xia Wan at the same level. With KI-16 below at the navel and KI-18 above. With ST-25 Tian Shu, the Front-Mu point of the Large Intestine, and ST-36 Zu San Li distally. With REN-12 Zhong Wan, the Hui-Meeting point of the fu organs, two cun above. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records, compared field against field; the BL-11, BL-51, BL-55, DU-01, KI-16, KI-18, KI-19, KI-20, KI-26, REN-10, REN-12, ST-25 and ST-36 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is KI-17 Shang Qu located?

KI-17 is on the upper abdomen, two cun above the navel and half a cun out from the midline — beside REN-10 Xia Wan.

• 2 cun above the umbilicus, 0.5 cun lateral to the midline
• Level with REN-10 Xia Wan, which our own record names as the reference
• KI-16 lies two cun below beside the navel; KI-18 one cun above beside REN-11

KI-17 sits immediately above the run’s one gap, and that is the thing to know about its position. The Kidney abdominal points climb from the navel a cun at a time — but the first step is two cun, not one. Confirmed by query: KI-16 beside the navel, then KI-17 at two cun, KI-18 at three, KI-19 at four, KI-20 at five, KI-21 at six. There is no Kidney point at one cun above the navel, which means REN-09 Shui Fen — alone among the Conception Vessel points in this stretch — has no Kidney partner. Every other level pairs one to one: KI-17/REN-10, KI-18/REN-11, KI-19/REN-12, KI-20/REN-13, KI-21/REN-14, with KI-16 beside REN-08. Our KI-19 record sets out the full ladder.

A reader stepping up a cun at a time from KI-16 will place every point of this run one level too low. The gap is where that error starts.

Everything here is measured from the navel, the most reliable landmark on the body — no counting chain, no proportional estimate. And half a cun is a finger’s breadth, so KI-17 and REN-10 sit less than a fingertip apart; the measurement has to be made rather than judged by eye.

On the name. “Shang Qu” — Shang Bend, shang being the Metal note of the five-tone scale, as noted above.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the KI-16 to KI-21 run and the REN-08 to REN-14 points queried and paired, and the absence of a Kidney point at one cun above the navel confirmed, against our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 356): On the upper abdomen, 2 cun above the umbilicus, 0.5 cun lateral to the midline (Xiawan REN-10).
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 195): 2 cun above the umbilicus, 0.5 cun lateral to Xiawan (REN-10).

How is KI-17 Shang Qu 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 — the same range our records give at KI-16, KI-18, KI-19 and KI-20, and deeper than the 0.3–0.7 inch at KI-21.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: rectus abdominis and its sheath overlie the peritoneal cavity; the transverse colon and small intestine lie deep in this region; there is no bone anywhere beneath the abdominal wall to stop a needle.

The depth is uniform across the run until the liver appears. Our records give 0.5–1.0 inch at KI-16 through KI-20, then shorten to 0.3–0.7 inch at KI-21, which also carries an explicit liver-injury caution. KI-17 carries no organ caution and this page does not import one — only four points in the library carry one at all: KI-21 (liver), KI-22 (heart), LU-01 and LU-02 (lung), counted by querying every needling record.

Hazard, stated proportionately. The abdominal wall is thin, no bone lies beneath it, and the peritoneal cavity is directly under — which is why every abdominal record here carries a bounded depth rather than an open one. Abdominal points also behave differently with a full bladder, in pregnancy, and after abdominal surgery where scarring and adhesions change what lies beneath.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at KI-17 could be located, and none is borrowed. Neither measured-depth study this library uses reaches the abdomen: the paediatric CT covers 23 points on the back and shoulder, the MRI six on the lower back. No case report naming KI-17 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged, and the recorded depths across KI-16 to KI-21 compared; every needling record queried and the four organ-injury cautions counted; the point lists of PMID 26922245 and PMID 36075596 confirmed not to include KI-17), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on KI-17, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates KI-17. Where the point appears it is one component of a 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 its limits. KI-17 has one recorded action and three recorded indications — the shortest record in the Kidney abdominal run — and its two fields agree with each other, which several of its neighbours’ do not. It sits two cun above the navel beside REN-10. And it is the point immediately above the run’s single gap: there is no Kidney point at one cun above the navel, so REN-09 Shui Fen is the one Conception Vessel point in this stretch without a Kidney partner. Confirmed by query, and the place where stepping up a cun at a time goes wrong.

Its name carries a musical note. Shang is the Metal tone of the classical five-note scale, shared with SP-05, DU-23 and GB-03. Names drawn from the pentatonic scale are rare, and where one appears this library points it out.

A note on searching for it. “KI 17”, “KID 17” and “Shangqu” searches return protocol trials and a large volume of unrelated material — “shang” is one of the commonest syllables in Chinese and matches place names, surnames and ordinary vocabulary, making this a poor search term. Our library codes this channel KI- while some sources use KID-. 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 KI-16 to KI-21 run counted, compared and paired against the Conception Vessel, against our own data).