Rugen (ST18) acupoint
(adapted from "Meridians and Acupoints")

• Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing: "In the depression 1.6 cun beneath the breast";
• Xunjing Kaoxue Bian: "Level with Zhongting (CV16)";
• Yixue Zhengzhuan: "For women, in the depression where the flesh starts under the breast";
• Shoushi Baoyuan BOOK >: "In the depression about one finger-width beneath breast, between the bones. For women, bend nipple to this point, and the nipple aligns with the point".

bubble_chart Anatomy

• Muscles: The lower part of pectoralis major muscle, with the 5th intercostal internal and external muscles deeper.
• Nerve: The lateral cutaneous branch of 5th intercostal nerve, and the deep layer is the intercostal nerve trunk.
• Vessels: intercostal arteries, superficial chest wall veins.

bubble_chart Manipulation

Subcutaneous insertion or upward oblique insertion 0.5 to 0.8 cun. Direct moxibustion is prohibited, moxibustion with moxa stick for 5 to 10 minutes.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Regulate qi, descend counterflow, promote lactation.

• Classical: cough with shortness of breath, breast swelling and pain, chest pain, dysphagia and inability to eat, breast swelling, sudden vomiting, sudden illness in children, abdominal fullness with shortness of breath and gurgling, warm malaria in children, childhood food stagnation, nausea, dry vomiting, abdominal pain with bloating and urgency, inability to breathe, upward rising sensation in the chest, radiating pain to the sides, or lumps forming or rising, or pulling pain in the waist and back, reverse qi with coughing and spitting pus and blood, cholera, choking, cold injury, failure to discharge placenta, hiccup.
• Modern: Insufficient milk secretion after childbirth, mastitis, breast lump (hyperplasia of mammary gland).

bubble_chart Combinations

• Cough and asthma: Rugen (ST18), Shufu (KI27).
• Insufficient milk secretion: Rugen (ST18), Tanzhong (CV17), Shaoze (SI1).