SP-08 (Di Ji) Earth's Crux

What does SP-08 Di Ji do?

SP-08 is the Xi-Cleft point of the Spleen channel — and its recorded action states the Xi-Cleft function outright: it MODERATES ACUTE CONDITIONS. It also regulates menstruation and invigorates blood, and harmonises the Spleen and resolves dampness.

• Regulates menstruation and invigorates blood — the gynaecological action it is best known for
• Harmonises the Spleen and resolves dampness
• Moderates acute conditions — the Xi-Cleft function, stated in the action field itself

Only a handful of records state the Xi-Cleft function in the action field. Most Xi-Cleft points leave it to be inferred from the classification; SP-08 writes it out, as our BL-63 record does — and BL-63 is the clearest case, its whole action being “moderates acute conditions”. A Xi-Cleft point is where qi and blood gather deeply, and the classical use is acute and painful conditions of the channel or organ. SP-08’s dysmenorrhoea indication — acute menstrual pain — is a textbook Xi-Cleft use.

SP-08 is the exception to a rule this project tested against its own data, and this page closes that thread. The commonly stated refinement is that the Xi-Cleft points of yin channels additionally treat bleeding. Checking that across all twelve Xi-Cleft points in our records, it held for eleven of twelve — and SP-08 was the one that did not: its recorded indications are irregular menstruation and dysmenorrhoea, not bleeding explicitly. Our BL-63 record notes this from the other side. It is a small discrepancy, and stating it precisely — eleven of twelve, not twelve — is more honest than repeating the rule as if it were universal. Whether SP-08’s “invigorates blood” action is meant to cover bleeding is a matter our indication data does not settle, and this record does not assume it.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, category and action records; all twelve Xi-Cleft points and their indication records queried and the yin-channel bleeding rule tested, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is SP-08 Di Ji used for?

SP-08 is used for abdominal pain and distension, diarrhoea, edema, difficult urination, nocturnal emission, irregular menstruation and painful periods. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Abdominal pain and distension
• Diarrhoea
• Edema
• Dysuria (difficult urination)
• Nocturnal emission
• Irregular menstruation
• Dysmenorrhoea (painful periods)

Dysmenorrhoea is the entry that makes it a Xi-Cleft point in practice. Acute, painful menstruation is exactly the acute-and-painful presentation a Xi-Cleft point is chosen for, and SP-08 is a principal point for it — the Spleen governing the blood in classical thought, and this point being where the channel’s qi and blood gather. The fluid entries (edema, dysuria, diarrhoea) belong to the Spleen’s damp-resolving action.

An honest note. Severe or new period pain, and any change in menstrual pattern, deserve medical assessment — dysmenorrhoea has treatable causes including endometriosis, and pain that is worsening or disabling should not simply be endured. Difficulty passing urine, and especially inability to pass urine, requires urgent care. New generalised edema requires assessment, its causes reaching the heart, kidneys and liver. Severe or persistent abdominal pain requires assessment. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With SP-06 San Yin Jiao — the great gynaecological point, on the same channel — and SP-09 Yin Ling Quan, the He-Sea point, three cun above. With SP-10 Xue Hai, the “sea of blood”, and REN-04 Guan Yuan for menstrual pain. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication record; the REN-04, SP-06, SP-09 and SP-10 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is SP-08 Di Ji located?

SP-08 is on the inner side of the lower leg, three cun below SP-09, just behind the inner edge of the shin bone.

• 3 cun below SP-09 Yin Ling Quan, which sits in the hollow below the inner knee
• Just posterior to the medial border of the tibia — behind the inner edge of the shin
• On the line from SP-09 down toward SP-06 San Yin Jiao at the inner ankle

The medial border of the tibia is the landmark for the whole inner-leg Spleen run. The inner edge of the shin bone is subcutaneous and easily felt from knee to ankle, and the Spleen points sit just behind it: SP-09 below the knee, SP-08 three cun down, SP-06 three cun above the inner ankle bone. The bone is its own ruler, and the points are located along it rather than by a counting chain.

On the name. “Di Ji” means Earth’s Crux or Earthly Pivot — di earth, the Spleen’s own element, and ji a pivot, mechanism or crux. The reading usually offered has this point as a key mechanism of the Earth organ, which fits a Xi-Cleft point where the channel’s activity concentrates.

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. 193): On the medial side of the lower leg, 3 cun inferior to Yinlingquan SP-9, in a depression just posterior to the medial crest of the tibia.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 159): 3 cun below Yinlingquan (SP-9), on the line connecting Yinlingquan (SP-9) and the medial malleolus.

How is SP-08 Di Ji 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.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: the point lies just behind the tibia in the belly of the flexor muscles of the calf; the great saphenous vein runs subcutaneously up the inner leg nearby; the posterior tibial vessels and the tibial nerve run deeper in the calf; the tibia lies immediately in front.

Hazard, stated proportionately. There is no body cavity here, no pleura and no organ — the trunk hazards do not extend to the lower leg. Bone lies immediately in front of the point, and the deep neurovascular bundle of the calf lies well behind the recorded needle path. This is a low-hazard point. Only four points in the library carry an organ-injury caution, counted by query, none on a limb.

A pregnancy note, because of the company it keeps. SP-08’s channel-mate SP-06 San Yin Jiao is classically cautioned in pregnancy, and a reader working this region should know that; our records do not hold a specific pregnancy caution for SP-08 and none is asserted, but strong stimulation of the lower Spleen channel in pregnancy is a matter for a qualified practitioner who knows the pregnancy. The point’s own indications — menstrual regulation, blood invigoration — are the reason the caution is worth raising.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at SP-08 could be located, and none is borrowed. Neither measured-depth study this library uses reaches the leg. No case report naming SP-08 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged; the SP-06 pregnancy caution and the four organ-injury cautions queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on SP-08, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates SP-08. Where the point appears it is one component of a dysmenorrhoea or digestive protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

Dysmenorrhoea is where a reader will meet claims near this point, and its protocols are built around SP-06, REN-04 and local points, with SP-08 as a component. Evidence about a protocol is not evidence about a point within it, and none is claimed here. The framing above stands: painful periods deserve assessment, not endurance.

What this page can state with confidence. SP-08 is the Xi-Cleft point of the Spleen channel, and its recorded action states the Xi-Cleft function outright, as only a few records do. It is a principal point for acute, painful menstruation — the textbook Xi-Cleft use. And it is the single exception to the yin-channel-Xi-Cleft-treats-bleeding rule as tested against our own data: eleven of twelve, not twelve, because SP-08 records menstrual regulation and pain rather than bleeding explicitly. Stating that precisely is the point of this record.

A note on searching for it. “SP 8”, “Sp 8” and “Diji” searches return protocol trials and a large volume of unrelated material — “Diji” matches ordinary vocabulary and place names. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (category, action and indication records; all twelve Xi-Cleft points and the yin-channel bleeding rule tested against our own data, with SP-08 confirmed the exception).