LI-06 (Pian Li) Veering Passageway

What does LI-06 Pian Li do?

LI-06 expels wind and clears heat, and it opens and regulates the water passages — and it is the Luo-Connecting point of the Large Intestine channel, the point that links it to its paired Lung channel.

• Expels wind and clears heat — applied to the face, eyes, ears and throat the channel serves
• Opens and regulates the water passages — a fluid-metabolism action, unusual on a forearm point and the reason edema is among its indications

Its classification: the Luo-Connecting point. Each of the twelve channels has one Luo (Connecting) point, and LI-06 is the Large Intestine’s — one of fifteen Luo points in our data (the twelve channel Luo, plus the Spleen’s great Luo SP-21 Da Bao, and the Luo of the two midline vessels, REN-15 Jiu Wei and DU-01 Chang Qiang). Classically the Luo point links a channel to its interiorly-exteriorly paired channel, so LI-06 connects the Large Intestine to the Lung; our LU-07 Lie Que record holds the Lung’s own Luo, the other half of the pair.

Why a Large Intestine point regulates water. The Lung is called the “upper source of water” in classical physiology, governing the descent and dispersal of fluids; the Large Intestine, paired with it and reabsorbing water from the stool, shares in that fluid role. A Luo point sitting at the junction of the two channels carrying a water-passages action fits that pairing — and it is why LI-06, alone among the lower Large Intestine points, treats edema.

On the name. “Pian Li” means Veering Passageway or Slanting Passage — pian to veer off or branch aside, li a passage. The reading usually offered ties the name to the Luo vessel branching off here from the main channel to cross to the Lung: the point where the passage veers away.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, classification, action and translation records; the full set of fifteen Luo points queried and LI-06 confirmed among them, and the LU-07 record checked, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is LI-06 Pian Li used for?

LI-06 is used for redness of the eye, tinnitus and deafness, nosebleed, sore throat, edema, and aching of the hand and arm. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Redness of the eye
• Tinnitus and deafness
• Epistaxis (nosebleed)
• Sore throat
• Edema
• Aching of the hand and arm

Two threads, matching the two actions. The eye, ear, nose and throat entries are the wind-heat action reaching the head the channel serves; edema is the water-passages action, the entry that sets LI-06 apart from its neighbours; and the aching hand and arm is local, the point sitting on the forearm.

An honest note. Edema — swelling of the face, limbs or body — requires medical assessment; its causes include cardiac, renal, hepatic and venous disease, and generalised swelling of new onset is a reason to seek care promptly. New or one-sided hearing loss requires prompt assessment, and sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a same-week emergency. Sore throat with difficulty swallowing or breathing is a medical emergency. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. As the Luo-Connecting point, LI-06 is classically paired with the Yuan-Source point of the coupled Lung channel — LU-09 Tai Yuan — in the “host–guest” (Luo-source) method for a combined Large-Intestine-and-Lung disharmony. Otherwise with LI-04 He Gu and LI-11 Qu Chi on its own channel. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; the LI-04, LI-11, LU-09 and LU-07 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is LI-06 Pian Li located?

LI-06 is on the thumb side of the forearm, three cun above the wrist crease, on the line drawn from LI-05 at the wrist to LI-11 at the elbow.

• 3 cun proximal to LI-05 Yang Xi at the wrist, measured up the forearm
• On the LI-05–to–LI-11 line — the line joining Yang Xi at the wrist to Qu Chi at the elbow, which is the spine of the lower Large Intestine channel
• Best found with the elbow flexed and the radial (thumb) side of the forearm turned up

The LI-05–to–LI-11 line orders the whole lower channel. Yang Xi at the wrist and Qu Chi at the elbow are the two fixed ends, and the forearm Large Intestine points are spaced along the line between them by measurement: LI-06 at 3 cun from the wrist, then LI-07, LI-08 and LI-09 higher up. Our LI-05 and LI-11 records anchor the two ends; get those two right and the points between them follow.

On the name. “Pian Li” — Veering Passageway, the passage veering off here where the Luo vessel branches toward the Lung, as noted above.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the LI-05 and LI-11 records queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 108): 3 cun proximal to Yangxi L.I.-5 on the line connecting Yangxi L.I.-5 with Quchi L.I.-11.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 141): With the elbow flexed and the radial side of arm upward, the point is on the line joining Yangxi (LI-5) and Quchi (LI-11), 3 cun above the crease of the wrist.

How is LI-06 Pian Li needled?

Our own record states perpendicular or oblique insertion of 0.5–0.8 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 or oblique, 0.5–0.8 inch. The oblique option — angling along the channel — is one our data records at several forearm points.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: the point lies over the radial (thumb-side) forearm, between the brachioradialis and the radial wrist extensors; the superficial branch of the radial nerve runs nearby; the radius lies deep. The radial artery runs medial to this line at this level, not beneath the point.

Hazard, stated proportionately. This is a low-hazard point: no body cavity, no pleura, no organ, bone at depth. The radial artery runs down the forearm medial to the LI-05–LI-11 line rather than under it here; our record carries no arterial caution at LI-06, and it is not among the nine points in the library that do, counted by query. The superficial radial nerve nearby means the sensation can be sharp.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at LI-06 could be located, and none is borrowed. Neither measured-depth study this library uses reaches the forearm. No case report naming LI-06 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged; the nine arterial cautions queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on LI-06, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates LI-06. Where the point appears it is one component of a protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence. LI-06 is the Luo-Connecting point of the Large Intestine channel — one of fifteen Luo points in our data — the point that links the Large Intestine to its paired Lung channel, and the classical Luo partner for LU-09 Tai Yuan in the host–guest method. That pairing with the Lung, the “upper source of water”, is why LI-06 alone among the lower Large Intestine points carries a water-passages action and treats edema. It sits 3 cun above the wrist on the LI-05–to–LI-11 line.

A note on searching for it. “LI 6”, “L 6” and “Pianli” searches return protocol trials and unrelated material — and this channel is coded LI, L and Co (colon) across the literature. Our library uses LI-. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (classification, action, indication and location records; the fifteen Luo points and the nine arterial cautions queried, against our own data).