LU-10 (Yu Ji) Fish Border

What does LU-10 Yu Ji do?

Yu Ji LU-10 is the Ying-Spring and Fire point of the Lung channel of Hand Tai Yin, and the tradition's principal point for clearing heat from the Lung and the throat. Sacred Lotus sources & references record that classification, and it carries the whole logic of the point: Ying-Spring points are the heat-clearing members of the five-shu set, and on a yin channel the Ying-Spring point falls on Fire. LU-10 is therefore the Fire point of a Metal channel — the place on the Lung channel where the element that controls Metal is addressed, and the point reached for when the Lung is hot rather than weak.

• Benefits the throat — recorded first in our own action record, and the use LU-10 is best known for. Sore, red, swollen, painful throat; loss of voice; the dry, scratchy throat of a Lung heat presentation.
• Clears Lung heat — for cough with thick or blood-streaked sputum, febrile disease, and the hot cough that will not settle.
• Descends rebellious qi — for cough and wheezing, where the Lung qi is described as rising instead of descending.
• Harmonises the Stomach and the Heart — the less-known action carried in our record, behind the point's classical use for vomiting, abdominal pain and the restless, agitated presentations attributed to heat troubling the Heart.
• Cools deficiency heat — the traditional reading of "feverish sensation in the palms", one of the recorded indications: heat felt in the hands rather than measured on a thermometer, treated at the point that sits in the palm's own fleshy mound.

The one-line version. Where LU-09 Tai Yuan is the Lung channel's tonifying point and LU-07 Lie Que its releasing point, LU-10 is its cooling point. If the presentation is hot, dry, red and sore, it is the Lung point the classification directs you to.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel and five-shu classification; existing action record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 88); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 138); cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is LU-10 Yu Ji used for?

Yu Ji LU-10 is used above all for acute sore throat and loss of voice, and for the hot, dry cough of a Lung heat presentation. The indications recorded in Sacred Lotus sources & references fall into a throat group, a Lung group, a febrile group and a small local group at the hand. These describe traditional use, not proven treatment.

• Sore throat, including acute and painful swelling of the throat
• Loss of voice and hoarseness
• Cough
• Haemoptysis (coughing blood) and blood-streaked sputum
• Fever and febrile disease
• Feverish sensation in the palms
• Asthma and wheezing
• Dryness of the mouth and thirst
• Vomiting, in the wider reference literature
• Pain, weakness or heat of the thumb and thenar eminence, as a local point
• Childhood malnutrition and digestive weakness, in the classical record

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing indication record); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 138); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 88); cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is LU-10 Yu Ji, and how is it used in practice?

Yu Ji lies on the fleshy mound at the base of the thumb — the thenar eminence — about halfway along the first hand bone, on the border where the pale skin of the palm meets the darker skin of the back of the hand. Sacred Lotus sources & references give it in two complementary ways, and the difference is worth understanding rather than glossing. Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion places it on the radial side of the midpoint of the first metacarpal bone, at the junction of the red and white skin. Deadman & Al-Khafaji place it in the depression between the midpoint of that bone's shaft and the thenar muscles. These are the same territory described from two directions — one naming the skin boundary, the other the groove between bone and muscle — and both put the point at the midpoint of the first hand bone on the palm's thumb side. Neither is a conflict, and our record carries both.

In practice LU-10 is a distal point used almost entirely for things happening at the other end of the body: the throat, the voice and the chest. It is characteristically tender, and it is one of the few Lung channel points that can be treated by firm pressure alone, which is how much of the clinical literature on it is written.

Which points is LU-10 combined with?

• With LU-11 Shao Shang — the Jing-Well point at the corner of the thumbnail, the other Lung point of the throat. The two are the classical pair for a hot, painful throat, and the division of labour between them is set out below.
• With LI-04 He Gu — the Source point of the paired Large Intestine channel, whose own course reaches the throat and face; the standard distal partner for throat and febrile complaints.
• With KI-06 Zhao Hai — the Confluent point of the Yin Motility Vessel, the classical choice for a dry throat and a lost voice attributed to yin deficiency rather than to acute heat. This is the pairing used in the postoperative-hoarseness study described below.
• With LU-05 Chi Ze — the He-Sea and Water point at the elbow, the Lung channel's draining point, added where Lung heat is fuller and the cough more productive.
• With ST-44 Nei Ting — where the throat and mouth heat is Yang Ming rather than Lung in origin; ST-44 is the Stomach channel's own Ying-Spring point and its equivalent heat-clearer.
• With P-07 Da Ling — recorded in the modern Chinese literature as a penetration technique from P-07 through toward Yu Ji for acute ankle sprain, a local-distal correspondence treatment rather than a Lung indication (PMID 22136022).

Where does LU-10 sit among the Lung channel's points?

The Lung channel's five-shu set held in Sacred Lotus sources & references runs: LU-11 Shao Shang (Jing-Well, Wood), LU-10 Yu Ji (Ying-Spring, Fire), LU-09 Tai Yuan (Shu-Stream, Earth, and also the channel's Yuan-Source point and the Hui-Meeting point of the vessels), LU-08 Jing Qu (Jing-River, Metal) and LU-05 Chi Ze (He-Sea, Water), with LU-07 Lie Que as the Luo-Connecting point and the Confluent point of the Conception Vessel. Among the Ying-Spring and Fire points of the yin channels — a group that also includes HT-08 Shao Fu, SP-02 Da Du, KI-02 Ran Gu, LIV-02 Xing Jian and P-08 Lao Gong — Yu Ji is the Lung's member, and the one whose reputation rests most narrowly on a single territory: the throat.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location as recorded in both reference texts; five-shu classifications of the Lung channel and of the yin-channel Ying-Spring points, queried directly; LI-04, KI-06, ST-44 and P-07 records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 88); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 138); PubMed PMID 22136022; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is LU-10 located?

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 88): On the thenar eminence of the hand, in a depression between the midpoint of the shaft of the first metacarpal bone and the thenar muscles.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 138): On the radial aspect of the midpoint of the first metacarpal bone, on the junction of the red and white skin (i.e., the junction of the dorsum and palm of the hand).

How is LU-10 Yu Ji needled in the textbooks?

Reference record only — this sets down what the standard texts document, not instruction for a reader. Sacred Lotus sources & references record perpendicular insertion of 0.5 to 0.8 inch at LU-10, with moxibustion noted as applicable. Deadman & Al-Khafaji record a comparable perpendicular range, and both reference texts describe the needle being directed along the line of the first hand bone rather than straight into the palm.

• Angle documented: perpendicular into the thenar eminence, or angled along the shaft of the first metacarpal bone.
• Depth documented: approximately 0.5 to 0.8 inch in our own record; comparable in the wider reference literature.
• Moxibustion: documented as applicable, though it is used sparingly at a heat-clearing point.
• Acupressure: firm pressure at the point is documented as a treatment method in its own right, and is what several of the clinical studies below actually tested.
• A deeper figure recorded in the trial literature. A 577-patient Chinese study of acute asthma inserted the needle at bilateral Yuji obliquely toward the palm to a depth of 20 to 35 mm, retained for 60 minutes with rotation every 5 minutes (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2012;32(10):891–894, PMID 23259263). That is deeper than the general reference figure implies, and it is recorded here as fact so that a reader comparing the trial with the textbooks is not left with an unexplained contradiction. It is a specialist hospital protocol, not a general depth.

What are the safety considerations at LU-10?

LU-10 lies on the hand, over muscle and bone, with no body cavity, organ or major vessel beneath it — it carries no pneumothorax hazard and no organ hazard, and its recorded cautions are entirely local. The thenar eminence is a muscular pad supplied by the radial artery's superficial palmar branch and by digital branches of the median nerve, so local bleeding, bruising and a sharp radiating sensation into the thumb are the ordinarily documented occurrences. The point is characteristically tender — noticeably more so than most — and the reference texts note that sensation at LU-10 is strong. Our sources record no pregnancy contraindication for LU-10; that caution attaches to LI-04 and SP-06 among the points of the limbs. Standard clean-needle practice applies.

For proportion: a meta-analysis of prospective clinical studies estimated serious adverse events in acupuncture 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). At a hand point such as this one, that second category is essentially the whole of the risk profile. Acupuncture is carried out only by qualified, licensed practitioners; this record documents the reference literature and is not a technique guide.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing needling record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 88); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 138); PubMed PMID 23259263; PMID 34489268 — each verified resolvable and checked for retraction status before citation.

What does the name Yu Ji mean?

Yu Ji means "Fish Border" — yu, a fish, and ji, a border, margin or boundary. The image is anatomical and immediately recognisable once seen: the fleshy mound at the base of the thumb has the rounded shape of a fish's belly, and the point sits along its edge, where the pale palm skin meets the darker skin of the back of the hand. Chinese anatomical usage still calls that whole eminence the "fish belly", and the "border" in the name is the red-and-white skin junction that Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion uses to define the location. It is one of the more literal names in the repertoire — the point is named for the landmark you find it by.

Why does the Ying-Spring and Fire classification matter at Yu Ji?

The five-shu points run from the tip of each limb inward, and the classics assign each a stage in the flow of channel qi: Jing-Well where it wells up and begins, Ying-Spring where it "glides", Shu-Stream where it pours, Jing-River where it flows, He-Sea where it enters the deep. The Nan Jing attaches an indication to each stage, and the Ying-Spring point's is heat and febrile disease. That is why the Ying-Spring point of a channel is the standard place to go when the presenting problem is heat in that channel, and why LU-10 rather than any other Lung point is the sore-throat-and-Lung-heat choice.

The element assignment then depends on whether the channel is yin or yang. On yang channels the Ying-Spring point is a Water point — which is why ST-44 Nei Ting, held here, is Water on the Earth channel of the Stomach. On yin channels the Ying-Spring point is a Fire point. The Lung is a yin Metal channel, so Yu Ji is a Fire point on a Metal channel: in five-element terms, the point at which the element that controls Metal is addressed on Metal's own channel.

A distinction students commonly get wrong, and worth stating flatly. Being the Fire point does not make Yu Ji the Lung channel's five-element sedation point. Sedation uses the child element, and the child of Metal is Water — so the sedation point of the Lung channel is LU-05 Chi Ze, the He-Sea and Water point at the elbow. Tonification uses the mother, Earth, which is LU-09 Tai Yuan, the Shu-Stream and Earth point at the wrist. Fire is Metal's controlling element, not its child, and Yu Ji's heat-clearing reputation rests on the Ying-Spring indication in the Nan Jing and on direct clinical record — not on the mother-child rule. Our LU-11 record states the same thing and the two agree. (The Lung channel's horary or self point, for completeness, is LU-08 Jing Qu, the Jing-River and Metal point.)

How do LU-10 and LU-11 divide the work in a sore throat?

Both are Lung channel points for an acutely sore throat, and the difference between them is one of severity and of technique. Sacred Lotus sources & references classify LU-11 Shao Shang as the Jing-Well and Wood point, at the corner of the thumbnail; LU-10 Yu Ji as the Ying-Spring and Fire point, on the thenar eminence below it.

• LU-11 is the emergency point. Jing-Well points sit at the very ends of the fingers and toes, they are shallow, and their characteristic technique is pricking to bleed. LU-11 belongs to the acute end: the violently swollen, obstructed, feverish throat, and the classical repertoire of loss of consciousness and revival that all Jing-Well points share.
• LU-10 is the ordinary choice. It is retained, needled or pressed rather than bled, it is comfortable to treat repeatedly, and it is the point used for the everyday sore throat, the hoarse voice, the hot dry cough — the presentations that are uncomfortable rather than alarming.
• They are also used together, and often are, which is the third and commonest answer: LU-11 bled for the acute obstruction, LU-10 retained for the underlying heat.

Is there research on LU-10 Yu Ji?

LU-10 has an unusual research profile: several studies name the point specifically and one of them is very large, but almost all of them are single-country, unblinded, and published in Chinese-language journals — so the quantity is better than the quality. Stated study by study:

• Acupuncture at LU-10 alone in acute asthma, 577 patients. Patients presenting with acute bronchial asthma attacks were randomised to immediate acupuncture at bilateral Yuji (289 cases) or to inhaled salbutamol (288 cases), all with oxygen and antibiotic cover. Both improved pulmonary function and symptom scores. Salbutamol acted faster and was superior at 5 minutes; the acupuncture arm improved substantially after 30 minutes of needle retention, at which point the two were statistically comparable, with no further gain from 30 to 60 minutes (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2012;32(10):891–894, PMID 23259263). This is one of very few studies anywhere that tests a single named point against an active drug in a real acute presentation. It is also unblinded, single-centre and reported only in Chinese, and it should be read as such.
• Acupoint massage at LU-10 with KI-06 for postoperative hoarseness. 106 patients with hoarseness after thyroid surgery were randomised to standard neurotrophic drug treatment alone or to the same plus acupoint massage at Yuji LU-10 and Zhaohai KI-06. Voice Handicap Index scores, jitter, shimmer and maximum phonation time all favoured the massage group, with large reported effect sizes (BMC Surg 2025;25(1):148, PMID 40205594, PMC11980349). The reported cure rates — 96.2% against 16.98% — are implausibly far apart for an add-on intervention and are the reason this study is presented as suggestive rather than convincing. It is also unblinded and single-centre. It does, however, test two named points in the point's own classical territory: the voice.
• Brain imaging at the point. A resting-state functional MRI study of 36 volunteers with anxiety compared needling at Yuji LU-10 with a non-acupoint and with a no-treatment control, reporting increased regional activity and altered functional connectivity in frontal, cingulate, temporal and hippocampal regions after LU-10 (Medicine (Baltimore) 2023;102(8):e33094, PMID 36827004, PMC11309646). Twelve people per arm; a mechanistic signal, not a clinical result. Its interest is that it used a non-acupoint control, which is the right design for asking whether this point does anything distinctive.
• Throat and local applications in the Chinese literature. A technique note reports on the "heaven-penetrating cooling" needling method applied at Yuji LU-10 for pharyngitis (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2013;33(8):752, PMID 24195224) — a one-page clinical note rather than a trial. A separate report describes penetration needling from Da Ling P-07 toward Yuji as the principal technique for acute ankle sprain (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu, November 2011, PMID 22136022), which is a correspondence-based use of the location rather than a Lung channel indication.

What is missing should be said plainly: there is no sham-controlled randomised trial of LU-10 for sore throat — the point's single best-known indication. The asthma study is the strongest point-specific evidence in existence for LU-10 and it is unblinded; nothing here establishes clinical effectiveness to a modern standard.

How does Yu Ji compare with the points around it?

LU-11 Shao Shang is at the corner of the thumbnail, the Jing-Well and Wood point, and the more acute choice — bled rather than retained. LU-09 Tai Yuan at the wrist crease is the Shu-Stream, Earth and Yuan-Source point and the Lung channel's principal tonifying point — the functional opposite of Yu Ji, and the point to reach for when the Lung is weak rather than hot. LU-05 Chi Ze at the elbow is the He-Sea and Water point, the channel's draining and sedation point. LI-04 He Gu sits in the web between thumb and index finger, on the same hand and on the paired yang channel — a Source point rather than a five-shu point, weighted toward the face, and carrying a pregnancy caution that LU-10 does not. P-08 Lao Gong is in the middle of the palm, the Pericardium channel's own Ying-Spring and Fire point: the same classification on a neighbouring yin channel, chosen for mouth ulcers and mental restlessness where Yu Ji is chosen for the throat. And a point of confusion worth heading off: the extra point Yu Yao, held here, means "Fish Waist" and lies in the middle of the eyebrow — a different fish, a different point, and no relation.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (name, five-shu classifications and the cross-referenced point records above, queried directly); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 88); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 138); Nan Jing (Classic of Difficulties), on the five-shu indications; PubMed PMID 23259263, 40205594 (PMC11980349), 36827004 (PMC11309646), 24195224, 22136022 — each verified resolvable and checked for retraction status before citation; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.