LIV-11 (Yin Lian) Yin Corner

What does LIV-11 Yin Lian do?

LIV-11 benefits the uterus — a single, narrowly organ-specific recorded action, on the inner thigh near the groin where the Liver channel serves the reproductive region.

• Benefits the uterus — the whole of the recorded action, and unusually specific

An action naming a single organ is uncommon in our data. Most points carry broad actions — regulate the lower jiao, clear damp-heat — and LIV-11 names the uterus directly. That specificity fits the Liver channel, which encircles the external genitals and governs the blood in classical thought; our LIV-01 and LIV-12 records set out the channel’s genital territory, and LIV-11 is its gynaecological point on the inner thigh.

On the name. “Yin Lian” means Yin Corner or Yin Angle — yin the yin of yin–yang (the inner, medial, reproductive aspect), lian a corner or edge. The reading usually offered places it at the inner corner of the thigh and the genital region, the yin part of the body.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, action, location and translation records; the LIV-01, LIV-10 and LIV-12 records queried against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is LIV-11 Yin Lian used for?

LIV-11 is used for irregular menstruation, abnormal vaginal discharge, lower abdominal pain, and pain in the thigh and leg. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Irregular menstruation
• Leucorrhoea (abnormal vaginal discharge)
• Lower abdominal pain
• Pain in the thigh and leg

Gynaecological and local, matching the uterus action. The menstrual, discharge and lower-abdominal entries are the uterine and lower-jiao territory the action names; the thigh-and-leg entry is local, the point sitting on the inner thigh.

An honest note. Any change in menstrual pattern, or abnormal vaginal discharge, requires medical assessment rather than repeated self-treatment. Lower abdominal pain that is severe, sudden or persistent requires assessment; its causes include surgical and gynaecological emergencies. And a caution the region shares with its neighbours: strong stimulation of the lower Liver channel in pregnancy is a matter for a qualified practitioner who knows the pregnancy — our SP-08 record notes the same for the neighbouring channel. This record documents classical use only.

A necessary practical note. This point is high on the inner thigh, near the groin — a private region. Treatment here calls for the same standards of consent, draping and professional conduct that apply anywhere in that area.

How it is combined. With LIV-10 Zu Wu Li above and LIV-12 Ji Mai in the groin crease. With REN-04 Guan Yuan and SP-06 San Yin Jiao for the gynaecological indications, and LIV-03 Tai Chong distally. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; the LIV-03, LIV-10, LIV-12, REN-04 and SP-06 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is LIV-11 Yin Lian located?

LIV-11 is on the inner thigh, two cun below ST-30, on the front edge of the long adductor muscle.

• 2 cun below ST-30 Qi Chong, which sits at the groin beside the pubic bone
• On the anterior border of adductor longus — the same muscle border LIV-10 uses, one cun lower
• LIV-10 Zu Wu Li lies 1 cun below it at 3 cun below ST-30; LIV-12 Ji Mai in the groin crease

Adductor longus is the landmark for both LIV-11 and LIV-10. The tendon of adductor longus stands out at the top of the inner thigh when the leg is drawn inward against resistance, and both points sit on its front edge — LIV-11 at 2 cun below ST-30, LIV-10 at 3 cun. The muscle is its own guide. Our LIV-10 record sets out the same landmark and the nearby femoral vessels, which run a short way lateral to these points.

On the name. “Yin Lian” — Yin Corner, the inner, reproductive corner of the thigh.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the LIV-10, LIV-12 and ST-30 records queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 487): 2 cun inferior to Qichong ST-30 on the anterior border of m. adductor longus.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 225): 2 cun directly below Qichong (ST 30), at the proximal end of the thigh, below the pubic tubercle and on the lateral border of m. abductor longus.

How is LIV-11 Yin Lian 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.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: adductor longus and pectineus lie at the inner thigh; the femoral artery and vein run in the femoral triangle a short way lateral; the obturator nerve supplies the adductors; the femur lies deep.

Hazard, stated proportionately. No body cavity, no pleura, no organ. The femoral vessels run lateral to this point, not beneath it — our LIV-12 record, lower in the groin crease, is given medial to the femoral vein and is treated with moxa rather than the needle for that reason, and our SP-12 record carries an explicit arterial caution in the crease. LIV-11 is higher and further from the pulse; its recorded depth stays clear of the vessels, and its record carries no arterial caution — nine points in the library do, counted by query, and LIV-11 is not among them.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at LIV-11 could be located, and none is borrowed. Neither measured-depth study this library uses reaches the thigh. No case report naming LIV-11 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged; the LIV-12 and SP-12 records and 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 LIV-11, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates LIV-11. Where the point appears it is one component of a gynaecological protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence. LIV-11 carries a single, narrowly organ-specific action — benefits the uterus — uncommon in our data, and matched by its gynaecological indications. It sits on the front edge of adductor longus 2 cun below ST-30, on the same landmark as LIV-10 one cun above. And it belongs to the inner-thigh Liver run near the groin, where the femoral vessels run lateral — the reason its lower neighbour LIV-12 is treated with moxa rather than needled.

A note on searching for it. “LIV 11”, “LR 11” and “Yinlian” searches return protocol trials and unrelated material — and this channel is coded LIV, LR and Liv across the literature. Our library uses LIV-. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (action, indication, location and needling records; the LIV-10 and LIV-12 records queried from our own data).