SI-04 (Wan Gu) Wrist Bone

What does SI-04 Wan Gu do?

SI-04 activates the channel and alleviates pain, clears heat and reduces swelling, and clears damp-heat and treats jaundice — and it is the Yuan-Source point of the Small Intestine channel.

• Activates the channel and alleviates pain — the local wrist and channel action
• Clears heat and reduces swelling
• Clears damp-heat and treats jaundice — unusual on a wrist point, and the Yuan-Source role at work

A Yuan-Source point treats its organ, and here that shows in the jaundice action. The Yuan-Source point is where the original qi of a channel gathers, and it is the classical first choice for the organ’s own state rather than for a symptom along the channel. For the Small Intestine — a yang fu organ — the damp-heat that produces jaundice is exactly the kind of organ pattern its Source point is used for. That a point on the wrist carries a jaundice action is the Yuan-Source logic, not a stray entry.

An outright name collision, and one of eight in this library. “Wan Gu” is the name of two points: SI-04 here on the wrist, and GB-12 behind the mastoid. Verified by querying every pinyin value in our data. They are on different channels in different regions, and only the channel code tells them apart. And the two do not share a character: SI-04’s wan means the wrist, so it is often rendered Wrist Bone; GB-12’s wan means complete, an old name for the mastoid, rendered Completion Bone. Identical only in toneless pinyin. Our GB-12 record documents the collision from its side, and notes that GB-12 is used as a locating landmark for three other points, which makes the ambiguity there especially consequential.

On the name. “Wan Gu” — Wrist Bone. The point sits against the wrist bones on the little-finger side, and the name is anatomical.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, category, action and translation records; every pinyin value queried for duplicates and the SI-04 / GB-12 collision confirmed, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is SI-04 Wan Gu used for?

SI-04 is used for fever without sweating, headache, neck rigidity, contracture of the fingers, wrist pain, and jaundice. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Febrile disease with anhidrosis (fever without sweating)
• Headache
• Rigidity of the neck
• Contracture of the fingers
• Pain in the wrist
• Jaundice

Local, channel, and organ entries in one list. Wrist pain and finger contracture are local; headache and neck rigidity are the Small Intestine channel’s course up the arm to the neck and head; jaundice is the organ, via the Yuan-Source and damp-heat action. Fever without sweating is a heat pattern the point’s heat-clearing action addresses.

An honest note, and the jaundice entry is the one that matters most. JAUNDICE — YELLOWING OF THE SKIN OR THE WHITES OF THE EYES — ALWAYS REQUIRES PROMPT MEDICAL ASSESSMENT. It is a sign of liver, biliary or blood disease, and some of its causes are urgent. There is no circumstance in which new jaundice should be managed by a classical indication rather than investigated. This record documents a classical indication in a historical system and makes no claim that acupuncture treats jaundice; our DU-06 and BL-48 records carry the same warning. Fever with confusion or a stiff neck needs urgent care, and headache with neck rigidity and fever requires urgent assessment.

How it is combined. With SI-03 Hou Xi, the Confluent point of the Governing Vessel and the classical distal point for the neck, just proximal — the Yuan-and-Confluent pairing for stiff neck. With SI-05 Yang Gu at the wrist. With LI-04 He Gu and DU-14 Da Zhui for fever. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; the BL-48, DU-06, DU-14, LI-04, SI-03 and SI-05 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is SI-04 Wan Gu located?

SI-04 is on the outer edge of the hand, in the hollow between the base of the little-finger bone and the wrist bones.

• On the ulnar (little-finger) border of the hand
• In the depression between the base of the fifth metacarpal and the triquetral bone — a palpable hollow at the edge of the hand
• At the junction of the darker and paler skin along the hand’s edge, the boundary the classical texts use here

The ulnar border of the hand carries the Small Intestine channel’s wrist points, all found by bony landmarks. SI-03 at the knuckle of the little finger, SI-04 here between the metacarpal base and the wrist bone, SI-05 at the wrist crease. The bones of the hand’s edge are subcutaneous and their hollows palpable, so these points are located by feel rather than by a counting chain.

On the name. “Wan Gu” — Wrist Bone. And, as above, a name shared outright with GB-12 behind the ear — search on the code, not the name.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; every pinyin value queried for duplicates, and the SI-03 and SI-05 records checked, against our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 235): On the ulnar border of the hand, in the depression between the base of the fifth metacarpal bone and the triquetral bone.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 168): On the ulnar side of the palm, in the depression between the base of the 5th metacarpal bone and hamate bone.

How is SI-04 Wan Gu needled?

Our own record states perpendicular insertion of 0.3–0.5 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, 0.3–0.5 inch.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: the point lies over the joint between the fifth metacarpal base and the triquetral, at the edge of the hand; the dorsal branch of the ulnar nerve and the small dorsal veins run in the region; the abductor and flexor of the little finger attach nearby; bone lies immediately deep.

Hazard, stated proportionately. This is a low-hazard point: no cavity, no organ, no major vessel, and bone close beneath. The ulnar border of the hand is thinly covered.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at SI-04 could be located, and none is borrowed. Neither measured-depth study this library uses reaches the hand. No case report naming SI-04 was located.

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

Is there research on SI-04, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates SI-04. Where the point appears it is one component of a wrist, neck or febrile protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence. SI-04 is the Yuan-Source point of the Small Intestine channel, and its unusual jaundice action is that role at work — the Source point treating the organ’s own damp-heat pattern. Its indications span local wrist, channel neck-and-head, and organ. And its name is shared outright with GB-12 behind the mastoid — one of eight collisions in this library, distinguished only by the channel code, and by different characters (wrist here, complete there) identical in toneless pinyin.

The jaundice warning is the operative content. New yellowing of the skin or eyes needs prompt medical assessment, always.

A note on searching for it. “SI 4”, “SI-04” and “Wangu” searches return protocol trials, the Gallbladder point of the same name behind the ear, and unrelated material — and “SI” also abbreviates the International System of Units. Search on the code, and against which Wan Gu a study used. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually did.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (category, action, indication and location records; every pinyin value audited for duplicates and the GB-12 collision confirmed, against our own data).