Shang Lian Quan Upper Ridge Spring

What does Shang Lian Quan do?

Shang Lian Quan benefits the tongue and throat, restores speech, stops drooling, and relieves sore throat and voice loss — an extra point under the jaw, above the Conception-vessel point Lian Quan.

• Benefits the tongue and throat — the local action of a point under the chin over the root of the tongue
• Restores speech — in a stiff or swollen tongue, in alalia (inability to speak) and aphasia (loss of language, e.g. after stroke)
• Stops profuse salivation and drooling
• Relieves sore throat, difficulty swallowing (dysphagia), and loss of voice

A speech-and-tongue point. Shang Lian Quan (“Upper Lian Quan”) sits just above REN-23 Lian Quan under the jaw, and shares its focus on the tongue, speech and swallowing. It is reached for above all in post-stroke speech loss and swallowing difficulty, and for the drooling that can accompany them — the needle directed toward the root of the tongue.

On the name. “Shang Lian Quan” means Upper Lian Quan — shang upper, and Lian Quan the neighbouring point REN-23 (“Ridge Spring”). The name places it directly above that point.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (extra-point action and translation records; the REN-23 record queried against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is Shang Lian Quan used for?

Shang Lian Quan is used for loss of speech, drooling with a stiff tongue, sore throat, difficulty swallowing, and loss of voice. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Alalia / aphasia (inability to speak; loss of language, as after stroke)
• Salivation and drooling with a stiff tongue
• Sore throat
• Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)
• Loss of voice

Tongue, speech and swallowing. Every entry concerns the tongue and throat the point overlies — the speech, drooling and swallowing of a stiff or impaired tongue, and the throat itself. Its prominence is in stroke rehabilitation, for speech and swallowing.

An honest and necessary note. Sudden loss of speech, or difficulty swallowing, can be signs of a stroke — a medical emergency requiring immediate care. Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) always requires assessment, both because it risks choking and aspiration and because it can signal serious disease. Persistent hoarseness (more than three weeks) needs assessment. Where acupuncture has a role it is in rehabilitation, alongside medical and speech-therapy care, never in place of it. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With REN-23 Lian Quan below it, Jin Jin Yu Ye (under the tongue) and HT-05 Tong Li for speech and the voice. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (extra-point indication and action records; the HT-05 and REN-23 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is Shang Lian Quan located?

Shang Lian Quan is under the jaw, one cun below the midpoint of the lower jaw, in the soft hollow between the jawbone and the hyoid bone.

• 1 cun below the midpoint of the lower border of the mandible (jaw)
• In the depression between the hyoid bone and the lower border of the jaw — the soft area under the chin, above the voice box

The soft area under the chin. Feeling under the chin, between the jawbone above and the hyoid bone (the small bone at the top of the throat) below, finds the soft hollow where Shang Lian Quan sits, above REN-23. The needle is directed up toward the root of the tongue from here.

On the name. “Shang Lian Quan” — Upper Lian Quan, above REN-23, as noted above.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the REN-23 record queried from our own data).

• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 242): 1 cun below midpoint of lower jaw, in the depression between the hyoid bone and the lower border of the jaw.

How is Shang Lian Quan needled?

Our own record states oblique insertion of 0.8–1.2 cun toward the root of the tongue, and notes that moxibustion is contraindicated at this point. 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: oblique, 0.8–1.2 cun, aimed toward the root of the tongue (upward and back from under the chin).
• Moxibustion: contraindicated — explicitly, our record advises against moxa here (the soft under-chin tissue near the airway).
• Regional anatomy: the point lies in the floor of the mouth region under the chin; the muscles of the tongue and the hyoid, the lingual vessels, and the tongue’s nerves lie above and deep; the airway is nearby.

Hazard, stated plainly. This is a practitioner-only point: the needle is directed toward the tongue root near the airway and the lingual vessels, so precise angle and depth matter. Our record carries no arterial caution in the nine-point sense, but the region’s vessels and the airway are why it is not a self-treatment point and why moxa is contraindicated.

What is not claimed. No safe-depth study could be located, and none is borrowed. No case report was located.

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

Is there research on Shang Lian Quan, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates Shang Lian Quan. Where it appears it is one component of a post-stroke speech-and-swallowing protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence. Shang Lian Quan (“Upper Lian Quan”, EX-HN-21) is an extra point under the jaw, above REN-23, focused on the tongue, speech and swallowing — used above all in post-stroke speech loss and dysphagia, and for drooling and voice loss. The needle is directed toward the tongue root, and moxa is contraindicated.

A safety note that outranks any TCM claim. Sudden speech loss and difficulty swallowing can be a stroke — an emergency; this page records a rehabilitation use and says so in the same breath.

A note on searching for it. Coded EX-HN-21 (older texts: M-HN-21); note the distinct channel point REN-23 Lian Quan shares part of the name. Any claim should be checked against which point a source means.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (extra-point action, indication and location records; the REN-23 record queried, against our own data).