ST-14 (Ku Fang) Storeroom

What does ST-14 Ku Fang do?

ST-14 descends rebellious qi and unbinds the chest — a Stomach chest point in the first rib space, sharing its action word-for-word with ST-13 above it.

• Descends rebellious qi — settling upward-moving qi, behind cough
• Unbinds the chest — opening a tight, oppressed chest

The action it shares with ST-13. ST-14 and ST-13 Qi Hu just above carry the identical recorded action — descend rebellious qi, unbind the chest. They are the two upper Stomach chest points, worked together for the breath and the chest. ST-14 sits one rib space lower, in the first intercostal space.

On the name. “Ku Fang” means Storeroom or Storehouse — ku a storehouse or treasury, fang a room or chamber. The reading usually offered likens the chest, which houses the lungs, to a storeroom — the ribs its walls, the point a chamber of the chest. It is one of several chest points whose names evoke rooms and dwellings (our data also holds ST-16 Ying Chuang, “Breast Window”, and the Kidney chest points named for storehouses).

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, action, location and translation records; the ST-13 and ST-16 records queried and ST-13/ST-14 confirmed to share an action, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is ST-14 Ku Fang used for?

ST-14 is used for a sensation of fullness and pain in the chest, and for cough. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full — a short, focused chest list.

• Sensation of fullness in the chest
• Pain in the chest
• Cough

Chest and breath, plainly. The chest fullness and pain are the chest-unbinding action; cough is the descending-qi action reaching the lung. It is among the more focused indication lists of the Stomach chest points — the core chest-and-cough picture without added entries.

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. A cough lasting more than three weeks, or with blood, breathlessness or weight loss, requires assessment. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With ST-13 Qi Hu above and the Stomach chest points below, and with LU-01 Zhong Fu and REN-17 Shan Zhong for the chest and cough. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; the LU-01, REN-17 and ST-13 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is ST-14 Ku Fang located?

ST-14 is on the upper chest, in the first rib space, four cun out from the midline.

• In the 1st intercostal space (between the 1st and 2nd ribs)
• 4 cun lateral to the anterior midline — the Stomach chest (nipple) line
• Directly below ST-13 Qi Hu (under the clavicle) and above ST-15 Wu Yi in the 2nd space

Counted down from the collarbone. ST-13 sits just under the clavicle; ST-14 is the next point down, in the first rib space, on the same 4-cun line. The Stomach chest points descend one rib space at a time from here to the nipple (ST-17) and below. The intercostal space is the landmark.

On the name. “Ku Fang” — Storeroom, the chamber of the chest, as noted above.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the ST-13 record queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 141): On the chest, in the first intercostal space, 4 cun lateral to the midline (Huagai REN-20), on the mamillary line.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 148): In the first intercostal space, 4 cun lateral to the anterior midline.

How is ST-14 Ku Fang 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 1st intercostal space; the intercostal nerve and vessels run under the rib above; immediately deep to the chest wall lie the pleura and the lung, the apex still high at this level.

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 ST-14, 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 ST-14 could be located, and none is borrowed; the oblique-and-shallow rule stands in its place. No case report naming ST-14 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 ST-14, and what should a reader know?

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

What this page can state with confidence. ST-14 Ku Fang (“Storeroom”) is a Stomach chest point in the first rib space, 4 cun lateral. It descends rebellious qi and unbinds the chest — the action it shares word-for-word with ST-13 above it — and its indications are chest fullness, chest pain and cough. Like all chest points it is needled obliquely and shallowly to avoid the lung beneath.

A safety note. Chest pain and a persistent cough are matters for medical assessment, and this point sits over the pleura; both make ST-14 a practitioner’s point.

A note on searching for it. “ST 14”, “S 14” and “Kufang” 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 ST-13 record and the nine arterial cautions queried, against our own data).