ST-24 (Hua Rou Men) Slippery Flesh Gate

What does ST-24 Hua Rou Men do?

ST-24 transforms phlegm and calms the spirit, and it harmonises the Stomach and alleviates vomiting — and the phlegm-and-spirit pairing is what its mania indication rests on.

• Transforms phlegm and calms the spirit — shared word for word with ST-23 immediately above it
• Harmonises the Stomach and alleviates vomiting — the digestive action

Why phlegm and the spirit are named together, on the abdomen. In classical theory phlegm misting the orifices of the heart is the account given for clouded, agitated or disordered mental states — so a point that transforms phlegm is, by that logic, a point that steadies the spirit. ST-24 and ST-23 are the two points of the Stomach abdominal run that carry both, and both carry mania in their indications. It is the same reasoning our BL-08 and KI-20 records set out for their own phlegm actions.

Mania is uncommon in our data, and these two are half of the Stomach channel’s share. Querying our records, only five Stomach points carry it: ST-23, ST-24, ST-36, ST-40 and ST-45 — and ST-40 Feng Long is the channel’s classical phlegm point. That ST-23 and ST-24 sit together and share both the action and the indication makes them a genuine pair rather than two points that happen to overlap.

On the name. “Hua Rou Men” means Slippery Flesh Gate — hua slippery, rou flesh, men a gate. The reading usually offered relates the “slippery flesh” to the soft abdominal wall the point sits in. It is one of the more unusual names in the system, and our data holds it as given without settling the sense.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, action, location and translation records; the ST-23 action record compared word for word, every Stomach mania indication queried, and the BL-08 and KI-20 phlegm records checked, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is ST-24 Hua Rou Men used for?

ST-24 is used for gastric pain, vomiting, and mania. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full — three entries.

• Gastric pain
• Vomiting
• Mania

Two digestive and one mental — and the mental one follows the recorded action. Gastric pain and vomiting are the abdominal points’ common stock; mania is what the phlegm-and-spirit action adds, and it is shared with ST-23 above. Comparing the two records: ST-23 adds irritability and indigestion where ST-24 adds nothing beyond the shared three, so ST-24 has the shorter list.

An honest note, and the mania entry needs it stated plainly. MANIA AND SEVERE MENTAL DISTURBANCE REQUIRE MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT. The term here reflects a classical category — agitation, disordered behaviour, loss of self-control — rather than a modern diagnosis, and a person in an acute manic or psychotic state needs proper psychiatric assessment; some presentations are emergencies, and some have medical causes that must be found. This record documents a classical indication and makes no claim that acupuncture treats mania or any psychiatric illness. Gastric pain that is severe, persistent, or comes with weight loss, vomiting or black stools requires assessment, and pain in this region can originate in the heart. Persistent vomiting causes dehydration and needs care; vomiting blood is an emergency.

How it is combined. With ST-23 Tai Yi above — the two are used together for the mania indication. With ST-25 Tian Shu below, the Front-Mu point of the Large Intestine. With REN-09 Shui Fen on the midline at the same level, and ST-40 Feng Long distally — the channel’s phlegm point, and the classical partner for phlegm-related mental symptoms. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records, compared against ST-23; the REN-09, ST-23, ST-25 and ST-40 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is ST-24 Hua Rou Men located?

ST-24 is on the abdomen, two cun out from the midline and one cun above the navel, level with REN-09 Shui Fen.

• 2 cun lateral to the midline, 1 cun above the umbilicus
• Level with REN-09 Shui Fen on the midline
• ST-23 Tai Yi lies one cun above; ST-25 Tian Shu one cun below at the navel level

The Stomach abdominal line pairs one-to-one with the Conception Vessel — and this point sits exactly where that pairing diverges from the Kidney channel’s. The Stomach chest-and-abdomen points at 2 cun each sit level with a named Ren point: our records give ST-19/REN-14, ST-20/REN-13, ST-22/REN-11, ST-23/REN-10 and ST-24/REN-09. The Kidney abdominal points at 0.5 cun pair the same way — but our KI-17 record notes that the Kidney run has one gap: REN-09 Shui Fen has no Kidney partner, because that line jumps from the navel straight to two cun. ST-24 fills the level the Kidney line skips. So at REN-09, the Stomach line has a point and the Kidney line does not — verified across both sets of location records.

Everything here is measured from the navel, the most reliable landmark on the body — no counting chain, no proportional estimate. Our KI-16 record sets out that advantage for the parallel Kidney run.

On the name. “Hua Rou Men” — Slippery Flesh Gate. Positional, as set out above.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the KI-16, KI-17, REN-09, ST-19, ST-20, ST-22, ST-23 and ST-25 records queried and the two abdominal lines paired against the Conception Vessel, against our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 147): On the abdomen, 2 cun lateral to the midline and 1 cun superior to the umbilicus, level with Shuifen REN-9.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 151): 1 cun above the umbilicus, 2 cun lateral to Shuifen (REN-9).

How is ST-24 Hua Rou Men needled?

Our own record states perpendicular insertion of 0.7–1.0 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, 0.7–1.0 inch — the same range as ST-23 above, and shallower than the 0.8–1.0 inch at ST-22 higher up. The recorded depths across this run sit close together, as befits a uniform region of soft abdominal wall.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: rectus abdominis and its sheath overlie the peritoneal cavity; the small intestine and transverse colon lie deep in this region; there is no bone anywhere beneath the abdominal wall to stop a needle.

Hazard, stated proportionately. The abdominal wall is thin, no bone lies beneath it, and the peritoneal cavity is directly under — which is why every abdominal record in this library carries a bounded depth rather than an open one. ST-24 is well clear of the organs the upper-abdominal points sit over: the liver caution our KI-21 record carries applies six cun higher, and no organ-injury caution attaches here — only four points in the library carry one, counted by query, none of them on this stretch. Abdominal points also behave differently with a full bladder, in pregnancy, and after abdominal surgery where scarring changes what lies beneath.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at ST-24 could be located, and none is borrowed. Neither measured-depth study this library uses reaches the abdomen. No case report naming ST-24 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged, and the ST-22 and ST-23 depths compared; the KI-21 record 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 ST-24, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates ST-24. Where the point appears it is one component of a digestive 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-24 sits one cun above the navel on the Stomach’s 2-cun abdominal line, level with REN-09 — the one level the parallel Kidney line skips, so the two channels diverge here. With ST-23 it forms a pair: both carry “transforms phlegm and calms the spirit” word for word, and both record mania, one of only five Stomach points that do. The reasoning is the classical one — phlegm misting the orifices — and its indications and its action agree.

The mania warning is the operative content. An acute manic or psychotic state needs psychiatric assessment, some presentations are emergencies, and no claim is made that acupuncture treats it.

A note on searching for it. “ST 24”, “S 24” and “Huaroumen” searches return protocol trials and unrelated material matched on transliteration. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (action, indication, location and needling records; the ST-23 pairing confirmed word for word, the Stomach and Kidney abdominal lines paired against the Conception Vessel, and every Stomach mania indication queried, against our own data).