Zusanli 足三里

🖼See it in pictures

Rendered straight from the 3D model at the computed location. The glowing ring marks Zusanli.

1Where is Zusanli?

3 B-cun below ST35, over the tibialis anterior.

It lies on the line from ST35 to ST41, on the front of the lower leg.

2How do I find it on my body?

1. Bend the knee and find the dip below and outside the kneecap (ST35).
2. Find the hollow at the middle of the front of the ankle (ST41).
3. Split the line between them into 16 B-cun and go 3 down from ST35, about four finger-widths.

What is a “cun”?

A cun is a body-scaled unit of length. The precise way is to divide a bone length into equal parts (proportional bone cun); finger widths are a quick estimate.

3The classical posture

1. Cup the knee with your hand, fingers pointing down the shin (the "hand around the knee" method the Donguibogam quotes from the Dexiao).
2. Press where the tip of the middle finger lands.
3. Lingshu ch. 4 says to take this point with the top of the foot lowered.

4Before you press

5How has it been used traditionally?

• Classified as the He-sea (Earth) point of the Stomach channel and the lower He-sea point of the stomach; the Lingshu also names it a transport point of the Sea of Water and Grain — historical classifications, not claims of effect.
• The name is usually read as "three (cun) below the knee".
• The Donguibogam keeps an old hand-on-knee way of locating it (see Traditional posture).
• Our 3D model locates it by splitting the ST35–ST41 line into 16 equal B-cun and counting down 3.

From traditional texts — not a claim of effect.

6Classical text

Donguibogam (Heo Jun, 1613), Acupuncture and Moxibustion, "Sanli" (Zusanli)

在膝下三寸胻骨外大筋內宛宛中《銅人》
在膝下三寸陷中胻骨外廉兩筋肉分間《內經》
在犢鼻下三寸胻骨外廉分肉間《入門》
以手約膝取中指梢盡處是穴《得效》
深則足趺陽脈不見按之太衝脈不動是正穴《資生》
足陽明脈之所入爲合 …《銅人》
…
三里下三寸爲上廉復下三寸爲下廉大腸屬上廉小腸屬下廉足陽明胃脈也然則是大腸小腸皆屬于胃也《靈樞》
點三里穴但按趺陽脈不應方是正穴《丹心》

1. ①Three cun below the knee, outside the shinbone, in the hollow inside the large sinew. Tongren
2. ②Three cun below the knee, in a hollow at the outer edge of the shinbone where two muscles part. Neijing
3. ③Three cun below Dubi (ST35), at the outer edge of the shinbone between the muscles. Rumen
4. ④Cup the knee with your hand; the point is where the tip of the middle finger lands. Dexiao
5. ⑤Pressed deeply, the pulse on the top of the foot can no longer be felt and the Taichong pulse stops — that marks the right spot. Zisheng
6. ⑥Where the Foot Yangming channel enters, which makes it the He-sea point. Tongren
7. ⑦Three cun below Sanli is the upper lian (ST37) and three more the lower lian (ST39); the large intestine belongs to the upper, the small intestine to the lower, so both belong to the stomach. Lingshu
8. ⑧When locating Sanli, pressing should stop the pulse on the top of the foot from answering — then it is the right spot. Danxin

• Source tags as given in the Donguibogam: Tongren = Tongren Shuxue Zhenjiu Tujing (1026); Neijing = the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic; Rumen = Yixue Rumen (1575); Dexiao = Shiyi Dexiao Fang (1345); Zisheng = Zhenjiu Zisheng Jing (early 13th century); Lingshu = the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic: Spiritual Pivot; Danxin = Danxi Xinfa (15th century).
• The garbled glyph 窈 in the Wikisource text has been corrected to 胻 (shinbone), checked against Lingshu ch.
• 2.
• The Neijing line differs slightly in wording from Lingshu ch.
• 2 itself.
• Line ⑤ could not be checked against a printed edition.
• The needling/moxa line and a quoted Mingtang line recommending moxa at this point after age thirty are both moxibustion practice and are shown as "…".
• "…" marks the needling depth and moxa count, left out because they are for licensed practitioners.

Original text as written · translation is ours.

?FAQ

Positions computed from the WHO standard locations (2008) on Z-Anatomy (CC BY-SA 4.0) · BodyParts3D © DBCLS. For reference only — not a substitute for diagnosis or treatment. See a clinician if you are unwell.