KI-26 (Yu Zhong) Lively Center

What does KI-26 Yu Zhong do?

KI-26 unbinds the chest and benefits the breasts, and it transforms phlegm and lowers rebellious Lung and Stomach qi — the only point in the chest run whose action names phlegm.

• Unbinds the chest and benefits the breasts
• Transforms phlegm and lowers rebellious Lung and Stomach qi — the phlegm clause is unique to this point in the run

It is also the only one whose action pairs both those ideas. Comparing all six chest points: KI-22, KI-23, KI-24 and KI-25 share “unbinds the chest” and “lowers rebellious Lung and Stomach qi” word for word; KI-23 and KI-24 add “benefits the breasts”; only KI-26 adds phlegm. Lower down the same channel, our KI-20 record on the abdomen also carries a phlegm clause — the two are the channel’s phlegm points, one at each end of the diaphragm.

And a field mismatch, the sixth this project has documented. KI-26’s action names the breasts, and its indication list contains no breast entry at all. Its neighbours KI-23 and KI-24 record mastitis; this point does not. The five earlier instances were BL-11 (bones), BL-51 (breasts), BL-55 (uterine bleeding), KI-19 (cough and wheezing) and KI-20 (chest and phlegm). Six instances is a pattern rather than a set of oddities: in this material the action fields consistently claim more than the indication fields support, and both are reproduced on every page here so a reader can see the gap.

On the name. “Yu Zhong” is rendered in our data as Lively Centre, and it is one of the more variably translated names in the system — Yu carries senses of abundance, comfort or flourishing, and other sources give readings along those lines. Our record holds Lively Centre and this page does not choose between the alternatives.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, action, indication, location and translation records; the action and indication records of KI-22 to KI-26 compared word for word, and the BL-11, BL-51, BL-55, KI-19 and KI-20 mismatches queried, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is KI-26 Yu Zhong used for?

KI-26 is used for cough, asthma, accumulation of phlegm, and fullness in the chest and flank. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Cough
• Asthma
• Accumulation of phlegm
• Fullness in the chest and hypochondriac region

Phlegm is what distinguishes it, in both fields at once. Comparing all six chest points, KI-26 is the only one whose indications name phlegm — and the only one whose action does. Where a point’s two fields agree on the thing that makes it distinctive, that is worth saying, because on this channel they often do not.

And where they do not agree here. Its action names the breasts, and there is no breast entry in the indication list — unlike KI-23 and KI-24 below, which record mastitis. Both fields are given as our record holds them.

An honest note. Asthma can be fatal and requires medical diagnosis and prescribed management; worsening breathlessness or an attack not responding to reliever medication is a medical emergency. A cough lasting more than three weeks, or with blood, weight loss or fever, requires assessment — as does a lasting change in the amount or nature of phlegm. And because these points sit directly over the heart: chest tightness with breathlessness, sweating, or pain spreading to the arm or jaw is a medical emergency. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With KI-25 below and KI-27 Shu Fu above — the last point of the channel. With REN-20 Hua Gai on the midline at this level. With LU-01 Zhong Fu, the Lung’s Front-Mu point, laterally. With ST-40 Feng Long distally, the classical phlegm point, and BL-13 Fei Shu on the back. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records, compared field against field and against the rest of the run; the BL-13, KI-23, KI-24, KI-25, KI-27, LU-01, REN-20 and ST-40 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is KI-26 Yu Zhong located?

KI-26 is on the chest, two cun out from the midline, in the first space between the ribs — the highest of the Kidney channel’s rib points.

• In the first intercostal space, 2 cun lateral to the midline
• KI-25 Shen Cang lies one space below in the second; KI-27 Shu Fu above, beneath the clavicle
• REN-20 Hua Gai sits on the midline at this level; ST-14 Ku Fang further out at 4 cun

The first space is the easiest of the run to find, because the clavicle is above it. The first rib lies beneath the clavicle and cannot be felt directly, so the first palpable intercostal space is the one below the second rib — and counting downward from the collarbone is the reliable method here, rather than working up from the nipple line, which our KI-23 record notes is unreliable in women and in older men. KI-27 sits just above, in the hollow under the clavicle, which anchors the count.

The ladder ends here. Six Kidney points climb the chest at a constant 2 cun, one per intercostal space — KI-22 fifth, KI-23 fourth, KI-24 third, KI-25 second, KI-26 first — then KI-27 leaves the rib spaces for the clavicle. Every position confirmed against our own location records, with no gap and no doubling.

On the name. “Yu Zhong” — our data gives Lively Centre. As noted above, translations of this name vary more than most, and this record does not choose between them.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the KI-22 to KI-27, REN-20 and ST-14 records queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 362): In the first intercostal space, 2 cun lateral to the midline.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 198): In the first intercostal space, 2 cun lateral to the anterior midline.

How is KI-26 Yu Zhong needled?

Our own record states oblique insertion of 0.3–0.5 inch, with moxibustion applicable — and this point sits over the highest part of the lung. 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: oblique, 0.3–0.5 inch — the same insertion recorded at every point in this chest run. On the chest the obliquity is the safety feature and not a stylistic detail: a needle laid along the intercostal space stays in the chest wall, while a perpendicular one is aimed into the thorax.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable. It carries none of these hazards.
• Regional anatomy: pectoralis major overlies the intercostal muscles; the intercostal nerve and vessels run along the lower border of the rib above; the apex of the lung and the pleural dome rise into this region, and the internal thoracic vessels run close to the sternum medially.

Height matters here, and this library has measured evidence for it — on the back. Our BL-11 record cites an adult cadaveric study of 46 bodies which mapped the pleural dome and found its projection varied widely between individuals, extending beyond the medial third of the clavicle in almost 60 per cent of them. That study measured points around the root of the neck, not KI-26, and no figure from it is carried across — but the variability it documents is a property of the region, and the first intercostal space is inside that region.

What our record does not carry. KI-22, four spaces below, is the only point in this library whose own record carries a heart-injury caution; only four points carry an organ-injury caution at all (KI-21 liver, KI-22 heart, LU-01 and LU-02 lung), counted by query. KI-26’s record carries none, and this page does not invent one. What applies across the whole chest and rib region is pneumothorax, and the recorded oblique angle and shallow depth are what address it.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at KI-26 could be located, and none is borrowed. The paediatric CT study this library uses measured 23 points on the back and shoulder. No case report naming KI-26 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged; every needling record queried and the four organ-injury cautions counted; the BL-11 record and PMID 16739850 consulted for the pleural-dome variability and attributed to that study, not to this point), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on KI-26, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates KI-26. Where the point appears it is one component of a respiratory protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence. KI-26 is the only point in the chest run whose action and indications both name phlegm — established by comparing all six records. It is the highest of the five rib points, in the first intercostal space, where the pleural dome rises into the region. And its action names the breasts while its indication list contains no breast entry, the sixth such field mismatch this project has documented, after BL-11, BL-51, BL-55, KI-19 and KI-20.

Six instances is enough to state as a finding about the material itself: in this data the action fields consistently claim more than the indication fields support. It is not an error in any single record, and it is the reason this library reproduces both fields in full on every page rather than summarising from one.

A note on searching for it. “KI 26”, “KID 26” and “Yuzhong” searches return protocol trials and a large volume of unrelated material — “Yuzhong” is a county name and a common personal name. Note also that the English rendering of this point varies between sources, which makes name-based searching less reliable than usual. 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 six chest points compared field by field, and the BL-11, BL-51, BL-55, KI-19 and KI-20 records checked, against our own data).