P-02 (Tian Quan) Celestial Spring

What does P-02 Tian Quan do?

P-02 unbinds the chest, invigorates blood and alleviates pain — a single combined action, and it sits on the upper arm just below the Pericardium channel’s first point.

• Unbinds the chest, invigorates blood and alleviates pain — the whole of the recorded action, the Pericardium’s chest-and-blood work carried onto the arm

A name trap, one point from its resolution. “Tian Quan” contains tian, heaven — and P-02 is not a Window of Heaven point. The point immediately above it, P-01 Tian Chi, is. Two consecutive Pericardium points, both carrying tian, and only one classified — the same structure our SJ-15 Tian Liao and SJ-16 Tian You records document, where SJ-16 is the Window of Heaven point and SJ-15 beside it is not. The ten Window of Heaven points are BL-10, DU-16, LI-18, LU-03, P-01, REN-22, SI-16, SI-17, SJ-16 and ST-09; P-02 is not among them. A name is not a classification, which this project has now shown from every direction.

On the name. “Tian Quan” means Celestial Spring — tian heaven, quan a spring, the same quan as in HT-01 Ji Quan (Highest Spring) on the neighbouring channel and KI-01 Yong Quan at the sole. The spring is the welling of qi high on the arm, near the channel’s origin at the chest.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, action, location and translation records; all ten Window of Heaven points queried and P-02 confirmed NOT among them, and the HT-01, KI-01, P-01, SJ-15 and SJ-16 records checked, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is P-02 Tian Quan used for?

P-02 is used for cardiac pain, distension of the flank, cough, and pain in the chest, back and the inner side of the arm. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Cardiac pain
• Distension of the hypochondriac (flank) region
• Cough
• Pain in the chest, back and the medial aspect of the arm

Chest, flank and arm — the Pericardium’s chest work reaching down its own channel. The cardiac and chest entries are the organ and its region; the arm pain is local, the Pericardium channel running down the inner arm through this point; the flank and cough entries belong to the chest-unbinding action.

An honest note. CARDIAC PAIN IS A MEDICAL EMERGENCY — chest pain with breathlessness, sweating, or pain spreading to the arm, neck or jaw requires emergency care immediately, and pain radiating down the inner arm, exactly this channel’s course, is a classic feature of a heart attack. This record documents a classical indication and makes no claim that acupuncture treats cardiac disease. A cough lasting more than three weeks, or with blood, weight loss or fever, requires assessment. Arm pain with weakness or numbness requires assessment. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With P-01 Tian Chi above at the chest and P-03 Qu Ze at the elbow. With P-06 Nei Guan distally — the channel’s most-used point, and the one with cardiac evidence. With REN-17 Shan Zhong for the chest. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication record; the P-01, P-03, P-06 and REN-17 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is P-02 Tian Quan located?

P-02 is on the front of the upper arm, two cun below the front crease of the armpit, in the groove between the two heads of the biceps muscle.

• 2 cun below the anterior axillary fold — the front crease of the armpit
• Between the two heads of biceps brachii — the long and short heads, which the groove between separates on the front of the upper arm

The groove between the biceps heads is the landmark. High on the front of the upper arm the two heads of biceps are separated by a shallow groove, more evident when the muscle is tensed, and P-02 sits in it two cun down from the armpit fold. A soft-tissue groove between two named muscle bellies is a more reliable guide than a bare measurement.

On the name. “Tian Quan” — Celestial Spring. As set out above, the tian does not mark a Window of Heaven classification — that belongs to P-01 just above.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the P-01 record queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 371): On the anterior aspect of the arm, 2 cun below the anterior axillary fold, between the two heads of the biceps brachii muscle.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 199): 2 cun below the level of the anterior axillary fold, between the two heads of m. biceps brachii.

How is P-02 Tian Quan needled?

Our own record states perpendicular insertion of 0.5–0.7 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, 0.5–0.7 inch.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: the two heads of biceps brachii lie either side of the groove, with brachialis deep; the brachial artery and the median nerve run on the medial side of the arm, and the musculocutaneous nerve pierces the muscles nearby; the humerus lies deep.

Hazard, stated proportionately. There is no body cavity here and no organ — this is the upper arm, not the chest, and the lung-injury caution our P-01 record carries (that point being on the chest over the lung) does not extend to it. The structures worth knowing are the brachial artery and median nerve on the inner arm, which the recorded depth stays clear of at a point in the muscle groove. Our record carries no arterial caution — nine points in the library do, counted by query, and P-02 is not among them.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at P-02 could be located, and none is borrowed. Neither measured-depth study this library uses reaches the upper arm. No case report naming P-02 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged; the P-01 lung caution and the nine arterial cautions queried from our own data and attributed to those points), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on P-02, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates P-02. Where the point appears it is one component of a cardiac or arm protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point. It is one of the less-used points on the channel.

The channel’s evidence belongs to P-06 Nei Guan, further down the arm — the one acupuncture point with a strong Western evidence base. Nothing from that literature is about P-02.

What this page can state with confidence. P-02 sits two cun below the armpit fold in the groove of the biceps, on the Pericardium channel. Its indications are chest, flank and arm — the channel’s chest work reaching down its own course. And despite tian in its name, it is not a Window of Heaven point; P-01 Tian Chi immediately above it is. Two consecutive tian points, one classified and one not — the same clean demonstration this project documented at SJ-15 and SJ-16 that a name is not a classification.

The cardiac warning is the operative content. Cardiac pain is an emergency, and it radiates down this arm.

A note on searching for it. “PC 2”, “P 2” and “Tianquan” searches return protocol trials and a large volume of unrelated material — “Tianquan” is a common place name — and our library codes this channel P- while much of the literature uses PC-. 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 ten Window of Heaven points queried and P-02 confirmed not among them, and the P-01 and SJ-15/SJ-16 records checked, against our own data).