LI-15 (Jian Yu) Shoulder Bone

What does LI-15 Jian Yu do?

Jian Yu LI-15 is the principal point of the shoulder — the point that sits in the hollow at the front and top of the shoulder joint itself — and it is the Meeting Point of the Large Intestine channel of Hand Yang Ming with the Yang Motility (Yang Qiao) Vessel. Sacred Lotus sources & references record its actions as dispelling wind-damp, alleviating pain and benefiting the shoulder joint; eliminating wind and regulating qi and blood; and regulating qi and dissipating phlegm nodules. Its position and its classification pull the same way: a point on the shoulder joint, on the great yang channel of the arm, at a crossing with the vessel that governs the outer aspect of the body and the raising of the limbs.

• Benefits the shoulder joint and frees the arm — the defining action and the reason the point exists in practice. It is used for pain across the front and top of the shoulder, for a shoulder that will not abduct, and for an arm that cannot be raised. Of all the points in the repertoire this is the one most consistently chosen for the shoulder joint itself, as the published trial literature confirms further down this page.
• Dispels wind and damp and alleviates pain — the classical framing of joint pain that shifts with weather, damp and cold, which the tradition groups as bi (painful obstruction) syndrome. LI-15 is the shoulder's own bi-syndrome point.
• Activates the channel and regulates qi and blood in the arm — used along the whole yang surface of the arm, for pain radiating from the shoulder into the upper arm and forearm, for numbness, and for weakness and wasting of the limb.
• Eliminates wind from the skin — the recorded action behind its classical use for rubella (feng zhen, "wind rash") and for itching skin conditions. Yang Ming and the Large Intestine's exterior-interior relationship with the Lung, which governs the skin, is the stated rationale.
• Regulates qi and dissipates phlegm nodules — the recorded action underlying its classical use for scrofula, the chains of hard nodules in the neck and shoulder region described in the older texts.
• Opens the Yang Motility Vessel at the shoulder — the Meeting-Point action. The Yang Qiao runs up the outer side of the body from the outer ankle to the eye and is described as governing the lateral aspect, the raising of the limbs and the tone of the muscles on the outside of the body. A shoulder point that also meets that vessel is a point that reaches beyond its own channel.

Where LI-15 sits among the Meeting Points. It is not a five-shu, Source, Connecting or Xi-Cleft point; its single classification is as a Meeting Point. Sacred Lotus sources & references record only one other point with the same crossing — LI-16 Ju Gu, immediately above it in the hollow between the collarbone and the shoulder blade, which is also a Meeting Point of the Large Intestine channel with the Yang Motility Vessel. Just below them, LI-14 Bi Nao is a Meeting Point of the Large Intestine channel with the Small Intestine and Bladder channels. Three consecutive points, three different crossings — which is what the top of the arm looks like in channel terms: a junction.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, Meeting Point classification, the LI-14 and LI-16 classifications queried directly, and the existing action record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 116; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 143; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is LI-15 Jian Yu used for?

LI-15 is used first and last for the shoulder — pain in the joint, a shoulder that will not move, and an arm that cannot be lifted — with a secondary group of skin and nodule indications inherited from the classical record. The indications carried in Sacred Lotus sources & references are set out below. They describe traditional use, not proven treatment.

• Pain in the shoulder and upper arm
• Restricted movement of the shoulder joint; inability to raise or abduct the arm
• Motor impairment of the upper limb
• Pain radiating from the shoulder down the arm
• Numbness of the arm and hand
• Weakness or wasting of the upper limb, including after windstroke
• Frozen shoulder and the presentations grouped as shoulder bi syndrome
• Rubella and wind rash
• Itching skin conditions
• Scrofula — chains of hard nodules in the neck and shoulder region

Why the shoulder indications dominate so completely. Unlike LI-04 He Gu or LI-11 Qu Chi further down the same channel, LI-15 has almost no systemic repertoire. It is not a Source point, not a He-Sea point, and carries no five-shu classification at all; what it has is position. That makes it an unusually honest point to describe — its clinical territory is essentially the region it occupies, plus what the Yang Motility Vessel adds along the outer side of the body. Readers looking for a Large Intestine point that acts on fever, the face or the bowel should look to LI-04 and LI-11, both held in Sacred Lotus sources & references, rather than to this one.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing indication record, and the LI-04 and LI-11 records); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 143; Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 116; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is LI-15 Jian Yu, and how is it used in practice?

Jian Yu lies at the top of the shoulder, in the hollow at the front and underside of the bony point of the shoulder, in the upper part of the deltoid muscle. The classical way of finding it is to raise the arm out to the side: as the arm comes up to the horizontal, two dimples appear at the shoulder, and LI-15 is the front one, just in front of and below the outer end of the collarbone's joint with the shoulder blade. Sacred Lotus sources & references hold two location records for it and neither has been altered here. Both make the same distinction, which is worth carrying forward: the back dimple, behind and below the same bony point, is SJ-14 Jian Liao on the Sanjiao channel — a different point, held separately here, and the one LI-15 is most often confused with.

Which points is LI-15 combined with?

• With SJ-14 Jian Liao — the front dimple and the back dimple, needled together as a pair to surround the joint. This is the single most common combination the point has, and the published trial literature bears it out: a systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture for frozen shoulder found Jian Yu LI-15 and Jian Liao SJ-14 to be the two most frequently used points across the included studies (PMID 33062030).
• With GB-21 Jian Jing — the point at the crest of the trapezius, above and behind LI-15. Where LI-15 addresses the joint, GB-21 addresses the muscular yoke over it; the two are routinely used together for a shoulder that both aches across the top and will not move.
• With the shoulder extra points — Jian Qian ("front of the shoulder") and Jian Nei Ling ("inner shoulder mound"), both held in Sacred Lotus sources & references, which sit on the front of the joint and complete the ring of points around it with LI-15 and SJ-14.
• With LI-11 Qu Chi and LI-04 He Gu — the distal Large Intestine points, added to carry the treatment along the channel rather than concentrating it at the shoulder. This is the standard arrangement for pain that runs from the shoulder into the forearm and hand.
• With LI-14 Bi Nao and LI-16 Ju Gu — its own channel neighbours immediately below and above, used to extend the local treatment down the upper arm or up toward the collarbone.
• With SI-09 Jian Zhen, SI-11 Tian Zong and Ashi points — the posterior shoulder points and the tender spots themselves, chosen according to which aspect of the shoulder the pain actually follows. The reference literature is consistent that shoulder treatment is selected by the region of pain rather than by a fixed formula, and comparative work on shoulder periarthritis has directly compared local against distant point selection (PMID 35770597).
• For hemiplegia after windstroke — with LI-11 Qu Chi, SJ-05 Wai Guan and LI-04 He Gu along the yang surface of the affected arm, the classical arrangement in which LI-15 anchors the shoulder end.

Why is the arm often raised when LI-15 is located?

Because the point is defined by a depression that only appears when the arm moves. Sacred Lotus sources & references describe the point as lying in the hollow that appears at the front border of the acromioclavicular joint when the arm is in full abduction. With the arm hanging, the deltoid covers the site smoothly and the landmark is much harder to feel; with the arm raised, the hollow opens. That is a location technique, not a treatment position — the reference literature records the point being used with the arm in various positions depending on the intention.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (both location records, point categories, and the SJ-14, GB-21, LI-04, LI-11, LI-14, LI-16, SJ-05, Jian Qian and Jian Nei Ling records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 116; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 143; PubMed PMID 33062030, 35770597; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is LI-15 located?

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 116): In the depression which lies anterior and inferior to the acromion, at the origin of the deltoid muscle. (Note: Jianliao SJ-14 is located in the depression which lies posterior and inferior to the acromion).
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 143): Antero-inferior to the acromion, on the upper portion of m. deltoideus. When the arm is in full abduction, the point is in the depression appearing at the anterior border of the acromioclavicular joint.

How is LI-15 Jian Yu needled, and what does the anatomy underneath it involve?

Reference record only — this sets out what the standard texts document, not instruction for a reader. Sacred Lotus sources & references record perpendicular or oblique insertion of 0.8 to 1.5 inches at LI-15, with moxibustion noted as applicable. That is a comparatively deep recorded range, and the reason it matters is that LI-15 lies directly over the shoulder joint: the tissue between the skin and the joint capsule is muscle and tendon, not bone, so the direction the needle takes determines what it is travelling toward. The standard texts record the direction as well as the depth for exactly that reason.

The angle and depth the texts record

• Sacred Lotus sources & references record perpendicular or oblique insertion of 0.8 to 1.5 inches, with moxibustion applicable.
• Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 143) and Deadman & Al-Khafaji (p. 116) record a comparable range at the same site and both describe the direction of insertion being chosen according to intention — perpendicular into the joint region, or obliquely downward into the deltoid along the line of the arm, which keeps the needle within muscle.
• Moxibustion is documented as applicable, and warm needling is widely described at this point in the shoulder literature.
• What lies beneath, in order. Immediately deep to the skin is the deltoid muscle at its origin; deeper again lie the subacromial and subdeltoid bursa, the tendon of supraspinatus as it passes under the bony point of the shoulder, and then the capsule of the shoulder joint itself. The axillary nerve and the posterior circumflex humeral vessels wind around the surgical neck of the humerus below and behind the point, supplying the deltoid; the suprascapular nerve lies deeper and more medially. This is why the recorded depth exists: it is the depth at which the needle remains in muscle rather than in the joint or among the vessels and nerves that serve it.

Two things a reader should not be told, and one that should be said plainly

First, and stated explicitly because it is the most likely error: the measured pleural depths carried elsewhere in this library are GB-21's figures, not LI-15's. The ultrasonographic study that measured the vertical distance from skin to the pleural line at the apex of the lung — a mean of 17.4 mm in men and 14.6 mm in women in 101 adults — measured it at Jian Jing GB-21, at the crest of the trapezius near the midline of the shoulder girdle, and its stated purpose was to prevent pneumothorax at that point (Lin S-K et al., J Acupunct Meridian Stud 2018;11(6):355–360, PMID 29936338). Those numbers describe GB-21 and nothing else. LI-15 lies well lateral to them, out over the head of the humerus and the shoulder joint, where the lung apex is not beneath the point — the dome of the pleura does not extend that far laterally. The pneumothorax caution that governs GB-21 is not the caution that governs LI-15, and importing GB-21's figures here would be wrong in both directions: it would overstate the risk at LI-15 and understate the specificity of the GB-21 measurement.

Second, the honest limit of what we could source. We could not locate a published imaging, ultrasound or cadaveric study measuring a safe needling depth at LI-15 itself. Several points on the body have been measured that way — GB-21, DU-15 and DU-16 among them, all held here — but LI-15 has not, and no figure is offered in place of one. What is recorded above is the depth range the standard texts document, and the anatomical sequence that range corresponds to. Two systematic reviews of the whole safe-depth literature — 33 studies in one, 47 in the other, measured by MRI, CT, ultrasound and cadaveric dissection — both concluded that measured depths for the same point vary greatly between subject groups and between measuring methods, and that "safe depth" has never been standardised (J Altern Complement Med 2011;17(3):199–206, PMID 21417806; Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2013;2013:740508, PMID 23935678). A textbook figure is a central estimate, not a guarantee.

Third, and said plainly: LI-15 is not one of the high-hazard points of the canon. It carries no cavity, organ or brainstem exposure. The considerations at this point are joint-and-nerve considerations, not cavity ones — the joint capsule and bursa beneath it, and the axillary nerve territory below and behind it — and they are the reason the recorded angle and depth are recorded at all. Local bruising and post-treatment soreness of the shoulder are the ordinarily documented occurrences. The clinical literature on acupuncture in the shoulder region has taken the axillary nerve's distribution seriously enough to design point selection around it (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2016;36(2):135–8, PMID 27348908). Set the whole thing in proportion: a meta-analysis of prospective clinical studies estimated serious acupuncture-related adverse events at approximately 1 per 10,000 patients, with about half of all recorded events being bleeding, pain or flare at the needle site (Bäumler P et al., BMJ Open 2021;11:e045961, PMID 34489268).

Pregnancy. Our sources record no pregnancy contraindication for LI-15. That caution attaches to GB-21 Jian Jing at the crest of the shoulder, to LI-04 He Gu and SP-06 San Yin Jiao, and to the lower-abdominal and sacral points — and it should not be transferred to LI-15 because it happens to sit on the same shoulder. Standard clean-needle practice applies. Acupuncture is carried out only by a qualified, licensed practitioner; this record documents the literature and is not a technique guide.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing needling record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 116 (surface and deep anatomy of the shoulder region); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 143; PubMed PMID 29936338 (a GB-21 measurement, cited here only to distinguish it from LI-15); PMID 21417806; PMID 23935678; PMID 27348908; PMID 34489268 — each verified resolvable and checked for retraction status before citation.

What does the name Jian Yu mean?

Jian Yu means "Shoulder Bone" — jian, the shoulder, and yu, the bone at the corner or angle of the shoulder. The name is purely anatomical, like a great many of the points over joints: it names the landmark rather than describing an action or an image. The yu character refers specifically to the projecting bony corner at the top of the shoulder — what anatomy calls the acromion — so the name says, in effect, "the shoulder's corner-bone point". It is also rendered "Shoulder Transporting Point" and "Shoulder Bone Hole" in some translations.

The name belongs to a family. The top of the shoulder carries a cluster of points whose names all begin with jian, and holding them apart is genuinely useful because they are constantly confused. Those held in Sacred Lotus sources & references are:

• LI-15 Jian Yu — "Shoulder Bone." In the front hollow, below and in front of the bony corner of the shoulder. Large Intestine channel; Meeting Point with the Yang Motility Vessel. This page.
• SJ-14 Jian Liao — "Shoulder Bone Hole." In the back hollow, below and behind the same bony corner. Sanjiao channel. The point most often mistaken for LI-15, and its standard partner.
• GB-21 Jian Jing — "Shoulder Well." At the crest of the trapezius, midway between the base of the neck and the tip of the shoulder — medial to LI-15, over the muscular yoke rather than the joint. It carries a pneumothorax caution and a pregnancy contraindication that LI-15 does not.
• SI-15 Jian Zhong Shu — "Central Shoulder Shu." Beside the spine at the base of the neck, further medial again.
• LI-16 Ju Gu — "Great Bone." In the hollow between the outer end of the collarbone and the spine of the shoulder blade, immediately above LI-15 and sharing its Yang Motility crossing.
• Jian Qian and Jian Nei Ling — "Front of the Shoulder" and "Inner Shoulder Mound," extra points on the front of the joint, on no channel and carrying no category.

What is the Yang Motility Vessel, and why does LI-15 meet it?

The Yang Qiao Mai — Yang Motility, Yang Heel or Yang Stepping Vessel — is one of the eight extraordinary vessels. Its described course begins below the outer ankle at BL-62 Shen Mai, runs up the outer side of the leg and the flank, crosses the shoulder, ascends the side of the neck and ends at the inner corner of the eye, where it meets its yin counterpart. The tradition assigns it three things: the lateral aspect of the body, movement and gait — qiao carries the sense of lifting the heel, striding, agility — and the opening and closing of the eyes, and through that, sleep. Its Confluent point is BL-62, held in Sacred Lotus sources & references and paired with SI-03 Hou Xi.

A Meeting Point is not the same thing as a Confluent point, and the difference is worth stating. LI-15 does not open the Yang Qiao — BL-62 does that. LI-15 is one of the points along the vessel's course where it crosses a regular channel, which means the vessel can be reached there. For a shoulder point the significance is direct: the Yang Qiao's stated concerns are the outer side of the body and the raising of the limb, which is precisely what a stiff, painful shoulder cannot do.

Is there research on LI-15 Jian Yu?

LI-15 is the most frequently chosen point in the published shoulder-acupuncture literature, but very little research has tested the point on its own, and the evidence for acupuncture in shoulder pain overall is weak. Both of those statements are true at once and this record makes no attempt to reconcile them.

• What practitioners actually choose. A systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture for frozen shoulder pooled the trial literature and reported a significant reduction in visual analogue pain scores, while identifying Jian Yu LI-15 and Jian Liao SJ-14 as the most used acupoints across the included studies (Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2020;2020:9790470, PMID 33062030). A separate literature study of point selection in rheumatoid arthritis found LI-15 to be one of the two points named for the shoulder joint across the body of work it analysed (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2017;37(2):221–4, PMID 29231492). Both document prescribing practice, not effect.
• The point tested largely on its own. A brief clinical report indexed as a randomised controlled trial described triple needling at Jian Yu LI-15 in 63 cases of supraspinatus tendinitis (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2011;31(7):638, PMID 21823292). It is a single page with no abstract available and no extractable outcome data, so it is recorded here as evidence that the single-point technique exists in the literature rather than as evidence that it works.
• Point-specific imaging. A resting-state functional MRI study in healthy volunteers examined changes in the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation following acupuncture at the left LI-15, and reported differences between men and women (Behav Neurol 2024;2024:3986094, PMID 39502831). A small physiological study in healthy people, and a genuinely point-specific one — it shows a measurable central correlate, not a clinical effect.
• Local against distant point selection. A comparative randomised study in shoulder periarthritis tested remote points against local points and reported both to be effective, with the remote selection performing well enough that the authors argued for its use (J Acupunct Meridian Stud 2021;14(1):13–20, PMID 35770597). This is directly relevant to LI-15, which is the archetypal local shoulder point.
• The honest baseline. The Cochrane review of acupuncture for shoulder pain included nine trials of varying methodological quality, with poor description of the interventions and varying placebos, and concluded that little can be concluded and that well-designed trials are needed (Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2005;(2):CD005319, PMID 15846753). It is two decades old and the field has grown since, but no later review has overturned its central point about trial quality.

The fair summary is that LI-15 is the shoulder's default point in practice and in the published literature, that the reasons for that are anatomical and classical rather than experimental, and that the trial evidence for acupuncture at the shoulder remains weak and poorly blinded. The site does not claim that LI-15 treats frozen shoulder, shoulder pain, rubella or scrofula.

How does LI-15 differ from GB-21 and SJ-14?

These three are the shoulder's working trio and they are not interchangeable. SJ-14 Jian Liao is the closest — the back dimple to LI-15's front dimple, on the Sanjiao channel, carrying no category, and used with LI-15 rather than instead of it; between them they surround the joint. GB-21 Jian Jing is a different proposition entirely: it lies medial to both, on the muscular crest between the neck and the shoulder, it is a Meeting Point of three yang channels with the Yang Linking Vessel, and its recorded actions run far beyond the shoulder to the breast, to nodules of the neck and to descending rebellious qi. It also carries two safety facts LI-15 does not — it overlies the apex of the lung and is classically contraindicated in pregnancy. The practical distinction is this: if the problem is the shoulder joint, LI-15; if it is the aching muscular yoke above the joint, GB-21; if the pain is at the back of the joint, SJ-14. All three are held in Sacred Lotus sources & references and all three are routinely used together.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (name, both location records, point categories, and the SJ-14, GB-21, SI-15, LI-04, LI-11, LI-14, LI-16, BL-62, SI-03, Jian Qian and Jian Nei Ling records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 116; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 143; PubMed PMID 33062030, 29231492, 21823292, 39502831, 35770597, 15846753 — each verified resolvable and checked for retraction status before citation; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.