SP-07 (Lou Gu) Leaking Valley

What does SP-07 Lou Gu do?

SP-07 fortifies the Spleen and resolves dampness, and promotes urination to disperse swelling — a fluid-metabolism point on the inner lower leg, just above San Yin Jiao.

• Fortifies the Spleen and resolves dampness — the Spleen’s classical role in transforming fluids; when it fails, damp accumulates
• Promotes urination and disperses swelling — the drainage action, moving retained fluid out through the bladder

A damp-and-fluid point, and its name says so. Both recorded actions are about fluid — resolving dampness and draining swelling — and the name Lou Gu, “Leaking Valley”, carries the same idea: the valley (the hollow beside the shin bone the point sits in) through which retained fluid leaks away. It shares this fluid character with its famous neighbour just below, SP-09 Yin Ling Quan, the Spleen’s He-Sea and principal damp-draining point.

Sitting on the great inner-leg line. SP-07 lies on the line from the inner ankle bone up to SP-09 at the knee — the same line that carries SP-06 San Yin Jiao (at 3 cun above the ankle bone), the crossing of the three leg yin channels. SP-07 sits 3 cun higher, at 6 cun, on the same course. Our SP-06 and SP-09 records anchor that line.

On the name. “Lou Gu” means Leaking Valley — lou to leak or drain, gu a valley (the hollow behind the tibia). The reading ties the name to the draining of damp the point performs.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, action, location and translation records; the SP-06 and SP-09 records queried against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is SP-07 Lou Gu used for?

SP-07 is used for abdominal distension and rumbling, and for coldness, numbness and paralysis of the knee and leg. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Abdominal distension
• Borborygmus (abdominal rumbling)
• Coldness of the knee and leg
• Numbness of the knee and leg
• Paralysis (motor impairment) of the knee and leg

Digestive-and-damp above, local leg below. The abdominal distension and rumbling are the Spleen-and-damp action reaching the belly; the coldness, numbness and weakness of the knee and leg are local, the point sitting on the lower leg. It is a two-part list — the organ the Spleen governs, and the limb the point occupies.

An honest note. New numbness, coldness or weakness of a leg requires medical assessment — it can signal nerve compression, or circulatory disease; a suddenly cold, pale, painful leg is a vascular emergency. Persistent abdominal distension warrants assessment rather than repeated self-treatment. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With SP-09 Yin Ling Quan and SP-06 San Yin Jiao on the same line for damp and fluid, and with ST-36 Zu San Li for the digestive indications. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; the SP-06, SP-09 and ST-36 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is SP-07 Lou Gu located?

SP-07 is on the inner lower leg, six cun above the inner ankle bone, just behind the shin bone.

• 6 cun above the tip of the medial malleolus (the inner ankle bone)
• On the line from the inner ankle bone to SP-09 Yin Ling Quan at the knee
• Just posterior to the medial (inner) border of the tibia — the shin bone

Placed on the inner-leg line, 3 cun above San Yin Jiao. The line runs from the inner ankle bone up the back of the shin to SP-09 below the knee. SP-06 San Yin Jiao sits on it at 3 cun above the ankle bone; SP-07 sits 3 cun higher again, at 6 cun. Both hug the back edge of the tibia. Finding SP-06 first — four finger-widths above the ankle bone — and stepping the same distance up the line reaches SP-07.

On the name. “Lou Gu” — Leaking Valley, the draining valley behind the shin, as noted above.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the SP-06 and SP-09 records queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 192): On the medial side of the lower leg, 3 cun superior to Sanyinjiao SP-6, in a depression just posterior to the medial crest of the tibia.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 159): 6 cun from the tip of the medial malleolus, on the line connecting the tip of the medial malleolus and Yinlingquan (SP-9), posterior to the medial border of the tibia.

How is SP-07 Lou Gu needled?

Our own record states perpendicular insertion of 0.5–1.0 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, 0.5–1.0 inch, behind the tibial border.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: the point lies just behind the medial border of the tibia among the deep flexor muscles; the posterior tibial nerve and the posterior tibial vessels run deeper in the region; the tibia is immediately anterior.

Hazard, stated proportionately. This is a low-hazard point: no body cavity, no organ, bone immediately in front. The posterior tibial vessels run in the deep compartment; our record carries no arterial caution at SP-07, and it is not among the nine points that do — the recorded depth stays superficial to those vessels.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at SP-07 could be located, and none is borrowed. No case report naming SP-07 was located.

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

Is there research on SP-07, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates SP-07. Where the point appears it is one component of a protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence. SP-07 Lou Gu (“Leaking Valley”) is a fluid-and-damp point of the Spleen channel — it fortifies the Spleen, resolves dampness and promotes urination to disperse swelling — its very name carrying the draining action. It sits on the great inner-leg line, 3 cun above San Yin Jiao (SP-06) and below SP-09 Yin Ling Quan, the two points it works alongside. It has no five-shu element and no special classification.

A note on searching for it. “SP 7”, “SP-7” and “Lougu” searches return protocol trials and unrelated material — and this channel is coded SP and Sp across the literature. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (action, indication and location records; the SP-06 and SP-09 records queried, against our own data).