SP-19 (Xiong Xiang) Chest Village

What does SP-19 Xiong Xiang do?

SP-19 regulates and descends qi and unbinds the chest — a straightforward chest point of the Spleen channel, in the third rib space.

• Regulates and descends qi — restoring the downward movement of chest qi
• Unbinds the chest — opening a constrained, bound-feeling chest; “unbinding” is the classical term for relieving that tight, oppressed sensation

“Unbinds the chest” — and it shares this exactly with SP-20. SP-19 and its upper neighbour SP-20 Zhou Rong carry the identical recorded action — regulate and descend qi, unbind the chest. They are the two “pure” chest-opening points of the Spleen’s chest cluster, without the digestive note of SP-17 or the breast action of SP-18. “Unbinding the chest” is the action reached for in chest oppression, tightness and stifling fullness — qi bound rather than flowing.

The third of four Spleen chest points. The cluster climbs the side of the chest, one point per rib space, all 6 cun lateral: SP-17 (5th space), SP-18 (4th, nipple level), SP-19 (3rd), SP-20 (2nd). SP-19 sits in the third space, between the breast point below and SP-20 above.

On the name. “Xiong Xiang” means Chest Village or Chest Locality — xiong the chest, xiang a village, township or district. Among the more literal names: it marks a locality on the chest.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, action, location and translation records; the SP-17, SP-18 and SP-20 records queried and SP-19/SP-20 confirmed to share an action, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is SP-19 Xiong Xiang used for?

SP-19 is used for fullness and pain in the chest and the side (hypochondriac region). Our own indication record is reproduced here in full — the single, shared chest indication.

• Fullness of the chest and hypochondrium
• Pain of the chest and hypochondrium

The core chest indication, undiluted. SP-19 carries just the chest-and-side fullness and pain that all four Spleen chest points share — without SP-17’s digestive entries or SP-18’s breast entries. It is the plainest chest-opening point of the group, matching its plain chest-opening action.

An honest and important note. Chest pain must never be assumed muscular — it requires medical assessment to exclude cardiac and other serious causes. Pain with breathlessness, sweating, or pain spreading to the arm or jaw is a medical emergency. New or persistent pain in the side also warrants assessment. This record documents classical use only; it is not a basis for treating chest pain without a diagnosis.

How it is combined. With SP-20 Zhou Rong above and SP-18 Tian Xi below on the same line, and with REN-17 Shan Zhong and P-06 Nei Guan for the chest. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; the P-06, REN-17, SP-18 and SP-20 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is SP-19 Xiong Xiang located?

SP-19 is on the side of the chest, in the third rib space, six cun out from the midline.

• In the 3rd intercostal space (between the 3rd and 4th ribs)
• 6 cun lateral to the anterior midline — toward the side of the chest
• One space above SP-18 (the nipple-level point) and one below SP-20

Counted up from the nipple space. SP-18 sits in the 4th (nipple) space; SP-19 is one rib space above it, in the 3rd, on the same 6-cun line. The intercostal space is the landmark — count up one space from the nipple level and stay on the 6-cun line out toward the side.

On the name. “Xiong Xiang” — Chest Village, a locality on the chest, as noted above.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the SP-18 and SP-20 records queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 203): On the lateral side of the chest, in the third intercostal space, 6 cun lateral to the midline.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 162): In the 3rd intercostal space, 6 cun lateral to the anterior midline.

How is SP-19 Xiong Xiang needled, and why only shallowly and obliquely?

Our own record states OBLIQUE insertion of 0.3–0.5 inch — deliberately shallow and angled — 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: oblique, 0.3–0.5 inch, skimming along the chest wall.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: the point lies in the 3rd intercostal space; the intercostal nerve and vessels run under the rib above; immediately deep to the chest wall lie the pleura and the lung.

Hazard, stated plainly. The serious risk at any chest point is pneumothorax — puncturing the lung. A perpendicular or deep needle here can reach the pleura; the recorded oblique, shallow technique exists to prevent it. Our record carries no arterial caution at SP-19, and it is not among the nine points that do — the governing hazard is the lung. A practitioner’s point, not one for self-treatment.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at SP-19 could be located, and none is borrowed; the oblique-and-shallow rule stands in its place. No case report naming SP-19 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged including the oblique angle; 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-19, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates SP-19. 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-19 Xiong Xiang (“Chest Village”) is the plainest of the four Spleen chest points — a single chest indication and a single chest-opening action (regulate and descend qi, unbind the chest), which it shares word-for-word with SP-20 above it. It sits in the 3rd intercostal space, 6 cun lateral. Like all chest points it is needled obliquely and shallowly to avoid the lung beneath.

A safety note. Chest pain is a symptom to have diagnosed, and this point sits over the pleura — both make SP-19 a practitioner’s point.

A note on searching for it. “SP 19”, “SP-19” and “Xiongxiang” searches return protocol trials and unrelated material. 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 four Spleen chest points queried, against our own data).