"Jia" (頰) refers to the side of face; "che" (車) refers to jaw joint. In Shiming: Shi Xingti by Liu Xi of the Han Dynasty, it is stated: "'Jia' (頰) implies 'Jia' (挾) which means 'to hold', referring to the sides of face that enclose and gather food." "Some say it is called 'Jiache' (頰車) because it also functions as a carrier for food." The acupoint is located at the masseter muscle in the cheek area, hence the name.

bubble_chart Location

Jiache (ST6) acupoint
(adapted from "Meridians and Acupoints")

On the cheek, approximately one finger-width (middle finger) anterior and superior to mandibular angle, within the masseter muscle, in a depression that can be felt upon pressing.

• Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing: "Below ear, at the depressed end of the curved cheek, where a hole appears when mouth is opened";
• Zhenjiu Zisheng Jing quoted from Qianjin Yaofang: "Eight fen below ear, slightly forward."

bubble_chart Anatomy

• Muscle: masseter. Divine connections: mandibular nerve, masseteric.
• Nerves: Mandibular nerve, masseteric nerve, mandibular branch of the facial nerve, great auricular nerve.
• Vessels: masseter artery and vein.

bubble_chart Manipulation

Insert perpendicularly to a depth of 0.3~0.5 cun, or subcutaneously in an anterior direction toward Dicang (ST4) to a depth of 1~2 cun.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Benefit jaw joint, dispel pathogenic wind from mouth and cheeks.

• Classical: crooked mouth and eyes, lockjaw, aphonia, toothache, swollen and painful cheeks, stiff neck and pain inability to turn head, aversion to wind and cold.
• Modern: trigeminal neuralgia, facial nerve palsy, acute mumps, pulpitis, acute periodontitis, temporomandibular joint arthritis, masseter spasm.

bubble_chart Combinations

• Crooked mouth and eyes: (1) Jiache (ST6), Dicang (ST4). (2) Jiache (ST6), Dicang (ST4), Shuigou (GV26), Chengjiang (CV24), Tinghui (GB2), Hegu(LI4).
• Lockjaw: Jiache (ST6), Chengjiang (CV24), Hegu (LI4).
• Toothache due to fire: Jiache (ST6), Hegu (LI4), Erjian (LI2), Neiting (ST44), Yongquan (KI1), Xingjian (LR2).
• Pulpitis and acute periodontitis (lower teeth): Jiache (ST6), Daying (ST5), Chengjiang (CV24), Hegu (LI4).
• Acute mumps: Jiache (ST6), Yifeng (TE17), Hegu (LI4).