Atlas of Acupuncture

5.2 Ren mai

Location

On the anterior midline, 2 cun inferior to the umbilicus or 3 cun

superior to the upper border of the pubic symphysis.

How to find

The distance between the centre of the umbilicus and the upper

border of the pubic symphysis is divided into 5 cun, which can

vary considerably from the patient’s finger cun. Therefore, only

proportional cun measurements should be used here (helpful

device: elastic tape ➞2.3.1). Ren-5is located on the midline,

2 cun inferior to the umbilicus. Located on the same level are

➞KID-14(0.5 cun lateral to the midline) and ➞ST-27(2 cun

lateral to the midline).

Needling

Vertically 0.5–1 cun. Caution: Peritoneum, pregnancy.

Actions/Indications

● Moves and benefits the water passages

● Regulates the Qi and Blood in the Lower Burner

● Regulates the Uterus

Special features

Front-mupoint of the Triple Burner. Some classic texts warn

that needling this point in women can lead to infertility (hence

the name: infertile women were referred to as ‘stone women’).

There are no such warnings in modern texts.

Stone Gate SHIMEN Ren-5

Ren-2

Ren-5

Ren-8 Umbilicus

Upper border

of the pubic

symphysis

3 cun

2 cun

Upper border of

the pubic symphysis

Umbilicus

16

Ren-2

25

29

ST-30

14

12

13

SP-12 KID-11

8

27

6

4

14

15 Umbilicus

Upper border

of the pubic

symphysis

1

2

3

4

Ni 12 Ren 03

KID-13 Ren-04

KID-14 Ren-05

5 cun

ST-27

2 cun

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