SJ-14 (Jian Liao) Shoulder Bone Hole

What does SJ-14 Jian Liao do?

SJ-14 dispels wind-damp, and it alleviates pain and benefits the shoulder joint — a purely local record, and the most shoulder-specific point on this channel.

• Dispels wind-damp — the classical account of aching, stiff, weather-sensitive joints
• Alleviates pain and benefits the shoulder joint — naming the joint itself, which few records do

Thirteen liao points, and two of the names collide. Liao means a hole or crevice in bone, and querying every point name returns thirteen that carry it: BL-31 to BL-34 (the sacral ba liao), DU-25 Su Liao, GB-29 Ju Liao, LI-12 Zhou Liao, LI-19 He Liao, SI-18 Quan Liao, SJ-14 Jian Liao, SJ-15 Tian Liao, SJ-22 He Liao and ST-03 Ju Liao. In every case the point sits at or beside an opening or hollow in bone — one of the most consistently applied descriptive elements in the whole naming system.

But two of those names belong to two points each. Ju Liao is both GB-29 (the hip) and ST-03 (the face); He Liao is both LI-19 (beside the nostril) and SJ-22 (the temple). Verified by querying every pinyin value in our data. Those are two of eight genuine name collisions among the numbered points in this library — the full audit is recorded in our reference notes. SJ-14’s own name, Jian Liao, is unique.

Where it sits on the shoulder. SJ-14 is one of a group of points around the shoulder joint on different channels — LI-15 Jian Yu in front of it, SI-09, SI-10 and SI-11 behind and below on the scapula, GB-21 Jian Jing above on the trapezius. They are commonly used together, and the shoulder is one of the regions where channel membership matters least to how points are chosen.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, action, location and translation records; every point name containing liao counted and every pinyin value queried for duplicates, and the GB-21, LI-15 and SI-09 to SI-11 records checked, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is SJ-14 Jian Liao used for?

SJ-14 is used for pain and impaired movement of the shoulder and upper arm. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full — a single entry.

• Pain and motor impairment of the shoulder and upper arm

One indication is the whole record, and that is worth saying plainly. Very few points in this library hold a single indication — our SI-13 record is the other clear case. SJ-14 is a local shoulder point in our source material and claims nothing else: no organ action, no distal effect, no systemic indication. A page implying otherwise would be adding content our data does not support.

An honest note. Shoulder pain with weakness, numbness or pins and needles down the arm requires medical assessment — it can indicate nerve involvement at the neck rather than a problem in the joint. Shoulder pain following an injury, or an inability to lift the arm, needs assessment; so does shoulder pain with fever or with the joint hot and swollen. And pain felt at the shoulder can be referred from the chest or abdomen — shoulder or chest pain with breathlessness, sweating, or pain spreading to the arm or jaw is a medical emergency. This record documents classical use for musculoskeletal shoulder pain and should not delay assessment of anything else.

How it is combined. With LI-15 Jian Yu in front — the two are the classical anterior-and-posterior pair for the shoulder joint. With SI-09 Jian Zhen, SI-10 Nao Shu and SI-11 Tian Zong behind on the scapula. With GB-21 Jian Jing above and SJ-15 Tian Liao medially. With SJ-05 Wai Guan distally on the same channel. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication record; the GB-21, LI-15, SI-09, SI-10, SI-11, SI-13, SJ-05 and SJ-15 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is SJ-14 Jian Liao located?

SJ-14 is at the top of the arm where the deltoid muscle begins, in the hollow behind and below the outer tip of the shoulder blade’s bony point.

• At the origin of the deltoid muscle, in the depression posterior and inferior to the lateral extremity of the acromion
• LI-15 Jian Yu sits in the corresponding hollow anterior to the acromion
• SJ-15 Tian Liao lies medially, in the suprascapular fossa

Two hollows, one bony point, and the difference between them is the whole location. The acromion — the bony tip of the shoulder — has a depression in front of it and another behind. LI-15 is the front one, SJ-14 the back one. Both appear when the arm is raised, and both are commonly described simply as “the hollow at the shoulder”, which is exactly the ambiguity to avoid. Our record specifies posterior and inferior, and that specification is the point.

The acromion is an excellent landmark. It is subcutaneous, unmistakable, and needs no counting or proportional measurement — unlike the vertebral chains on the back that this library repeatedly warns about. Raising the arm to about ninety degrees makes both depressions obvious.

On the name. “Jian Liao” means Shoulder Bone Hole. Jian is the shoulder, shared with LI-15 Jian Yu, GB-21 Jian Jing, SI-14 Jian Wai Shu and SI-15 Jian Zhong Shu; liao is the hole or hollow in bone. The name is a plain description of what you feel for.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the GB-21, LI-15, SI-14, SI-15 and SJ-15 records queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 405): At the origin of the deltoid muscle, in the depression which lies posterior and inferior to the lateral extremity of the acromion.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 206): On the shoulder, posterior to Jianyu (LI-15), in the depression inferior and posterior to the acromion when the arm is abducted.

How is SJ-14 Jian Liao needled?

Our own record states perpendicular insertion of 0.7–1.0 inch, with moxibustion applicable — a deeper recorded range than most, because the deltoid is thick. 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, 0.7–1.0 inch. Compare 0.3–0.5 inch at SJ-15 in the suprascapular fossa and at SJ-16 on the neck — the recorded depths across this stretch track how much muscle lies beneath.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: the deltoid muscle overlies the shoulder joint capsule; the axillary nerve and the posterior circumflex humeral vessels wind around the surgical neck of the humerus beneath the deltoid; the head of the humerus and the joint capsule lie deep.

Hazard, stated proportionately. There is no body cavity here and no pleura — the shoulder joint is not the chest, and the pneumothorax considerations this library documents at GB-21 and the upper-back points do not extend to a point over the humeral head. What is present is thick muscle over a joint, with the axillary nerve deep to it. That combination is why the recorded depth is comparatively generous and still bounded.

A boundary worth stating, because it is close. Our GB-21 Jian Jing record carries an adult ultrasound measurement of the distance from skin to the pleural line — 17.4 mm in men and 14.6 mm in women — because GB-21 sits on the trapezius over the top of the thorax. SJ-14 does not. It is further out on the shoulder, over the arm bone. That figure belongs to GB-21 and is not transferred here.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at SJ-14 could be located, and none is borrowed. The paediatric CT study this library uses measured 23 points on the back and shoulder, and SJ-14 is not among them. No case report naming SJ-14 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged, and the SJ-15 and SJ-16 depths compared; the GB-21 record and its measurement attributed to that point; the point list of PMID 26922245 confirmed not to include SJ-14), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on SJ-14, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates SJ-14. Where the point appears it is one component of a shoulder protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

Shoulder pain does have an acupuncture literature, and SJ-14 appears in it — always alongside LI-15, SI-09, SI-11, GB-21 and local ashi points. Evidence about a multi-point protocol is not evidence about one point within it, and nothing from that literature is claimed here.

What this page can state with confidence. SJ-14 holds one recorded action pair and one recorded indication — among the shortest records in the library — and the page reports that rather than expanding it. It is the hollow behind the acromion, where LI-15 is the hollow in front; a description that says only “the depression at the shoulder” does not distinguish them. And its recorded depth of 0.7–1.0 inch reflects thick deltoid over bone, not licence.

A note on names. Thirteen points in this library carry liao in their names, counted by query — and two of those names each belong to two different points: Ju Liao is GB-29 and ST-03, He Liao is LI-19 and SJ-22. Our complete audit found eight such collisions among the numbered points. SJ-14’s name is not one of them.

A note on searching for it. “SJ 14”, “TE 14”, “TB 14” and “Jianliao” searches return protocol trials and unrelated material — and this channel is coded three ways across the literature: SJ, TE and TB. Our library uses SJ-. 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; every liao name counted and every pinyin value audited for duplicates, and the GB-21 and LI-15 records checked, against our own data).