KI-18 (Shi Guan) Stone Pass

What does KI-18 Shi Guan do?

KI-18 regulates the lower jiao and alleviates pain, regulates qi and moves blood stasis, and harmonises the Stomach — the longest action record of any point in the Kidney abdominal run.

• Regulates the lower jiao and alleviates pain
• Regulates qi and moves blood stasis — the only blood action in the run, and the one its obstetric indications rest on
• Harmonises the Stomach

Blood stasis is what sets this point apart from its neighbours. Comparing all six points of the abdominal run, KI-18 is the only one whose recorded action names blood — KI-16 regulates qi and warms the intestines, KI-17 dispels accumulation, KI-19 and KI-20 harmonise the Stomach and middle jiao, KI-21 works on Spleen, Stomach and Liver qi. In classical terms, stasis of blood in the lower burner is the account given for the presentations this point’s indications describe.

It is also a Meeting Point of the Kidney channel with the Penetrating Vessel (Chong Mai), shared across the whole run — and worth a word here, because the Chong Mai is classically described as the Sea of Blood and closely tied to menstruation and to the uterus. A point on that vessel whose action names blood stasis and whose indications are obstetric is internally coherent.

On the name. “Shi Guan” means Stone Pass. Shi is stone, and guan a gate or pass — the same character as in DU-03 Yao Yang Guan and P-06 Nei Guan. The readings offered relate the stone to hardness or blockage in the abdomen, which fits both the accumulation sense and the constipation indication.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, category, action and translation records; the action records of KI-16 to KI-21 compared entry by entry, and the DU-03 and P-06 records checked, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is KI-18 Shi Guan used for?

KI-18 is used for vomiting, abdominal pain and constipation, and for postpartum abdominal pain and infertility. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Vomiting
• Abdominal pain
• Constipation
• Postpartum abdominal pain
• Sterility (infertility)

It is the only point in this run with obstetric or fertility indications. Comparing KI-16 to KI-21, the other five are digestive throughout, with KI-21 adding morning sickness. KI-18 alone records postpartum pain and infertility — consistent with its being the only one whose action names blood stasis, and with the Penetrating Vessel classification the run carries.

An honest note, and both of these entries need one stated plainly.

• INFERTILITY REQUIRES MEDICAL INVESTIGATION. It has many causes in either partner, a number of them treatable, and several of them time-sensitive — investigation should not be delayed. Nothing in this record claims that acupuncture treats infertility. The evidence base for acupuncture in assisted conception has been reviewed repeatedly and remains contested; this page makes no claim about it and cites none, because our indication record documents historical use and is not evidence.
• POSTPARTUM ABDOMINAL PAIN REQUIRES ASSESSMENT. Severe pain after birth, heavy or foul-smelling bleeding, fever, or feeling very unwell are medical emergencies — infection, retained tissue and haemorrhage all present this way. This is not a presentation to work through.
• Persistent vomiting, severe or sudden abdominal pain, and any lasting change in bowel habit require medical assessment in their own right.

And a general caution for this region. Abdominal treatment in pregnancy is a matter for a qualified practitioner who knows the pregnancy. Our records hold no pregnancy contraindication for KI-18 and none is asserted here; the point is stated because the indication list touches childbirth.

How it is combined. With REN-11 Jian Li at the same level. With KI-17 below and KI-19 above on the same 0.5-cun line. With REN-04 Guan Yuan and REN-06 Qi Hai on the lower abdomen, and SP-06 San Yin Jiao distally — the classical gynaecological combination. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; KI-16 to KI-21 indication lists compared, and the KI-17, KI-19, KI-21, REN-04, REN-06, REN-11 and SP-06 records queried, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is KI-18 Shi Guan located?

KI-18 is on the upper abdomen, three cun above the navel and half a cun out from the midline — beside REN-11 Jian Li.

• 3 cun above the umbilicus, 0.5 cun lateral to the midline
• Level with REN-11 Jian Li, which our own record names as the reference
• KI-17 lies one cun below beside REN-10; KI-19 one cun above beside REN-12

The run pairs one to one with the Conception Vessel, and our data holds every pairing. KI-16 beside REN-08 at the navel, then KI-17/REN-10, KI-18/REN-11, KI-19/REN-12, KI-20/REN-13 and KI-21/REN-14 — six consecutive Kidney points beside six consecutive Ren points, verified by query. Our KI-19 record sets out the full ladder, including the single break: REN-09 has no Kidney partner, the run jumping from the navel straight to two cun.

Everything here is measured from the navel, which is the most reliable landmark on the body — no counting chain, no proportional estimate. And half a cun is a finger’s breadth, so KI-18 and REN-11 sit less than a fingertip apart; the measurement has to be made rather than judged by eye.

On the name. “Shi Guan” — Stone Pass. Positional in the sense of a gate along the abdomen, with the stone reading as hardness or obstruction.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the KI-16 to KI-21 run and its Conception Vessel partners queried and paired against our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 356): On the upper abdomen, 3 cun above the umbilicus, 0.5 cun lateral to the midline (Jianli REN-11).
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 195): 3 cun above the umbilicus, 0.5 cun lateral to Jianli (REN-11).

How is KI-18 Shi Guan 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-17, 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 stomach and transverse colon lie deep in this region; there is no bone anywhere beneath the abdominal wall to stop a needle.

The depth is uniform across this run until the liver appears, and that is checkable. 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-18 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 query.

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-18 could be located, and none is borrowed. Neither measured-depth study this library uses reaches the abdomen. No case report naming KI-18 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), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on KI-18, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates KI-18. Where the point appears it is one component of a digestive or gynaecological protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

Fertility is the one area where a reader will meet strong claims near this indication list, and this page makes none. The literature on acupuncture in assisted conception is large, contested, and built on multi-point protocols; it is not evidence about KI-18, and none of it is cited here. Our indication record documents historical use — that is what an indication list is — and the distinction between recorded classical use and demonstrated effect is one this library keeps on every page.

What this page can state with confidence. KI-18 is the only point in the Kidney abdominal run with obstetric or fertility indications, and the only one whose recorded action names blood — both established by comparing all six records. Those two facts fit together, and both fit the Penetrating Vessel classification the run carries, the Chong Mai being classically the Sea of Blood. It sits three cun above the navel beside REN-11, in a run that pairs one to one with the Conception Vessel.

The warnings above are the operative content on this page. Infertility requires investigation, and postpartum abdominal pain requires assessment — severe pain, heavy or foul-smelling bleeding, or fever after birth are emergencies.

A note on searching for it. “KI 18”, “KID 18” and “Shiguan” searches return protocol trials and a large volume of unrelated material — “Shiguan” matches place names and, in medical writing, transliterations relating to the oesophagus, which makes it an unreliable 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, category and location records; the action and indication records of KI-16 to KI-21 compared entry by entry against our own data).