Back Shu or Correspondence points

What are these ‘Correspondence or Back Shu points’?

These are important acupuncture points on your back. They all lie on the Bladder acupuncture channel which runs parallel with and on either side of your spine.

(By the way, this may be a bit technical for non-acupuncturists, but whenever someone massages or rubs your back, they are nearly always unconsciously treating one or more of these points!)

The image above shows where an important back shu point is – Bladder 23.

• May be sore on pressure when the corresponding zang or fu organ is out of balance.
• Have a more direct contact with the zang-fu in question than most other points, so can be used directly to clear excess or tonify deficiency, either in support of other points or on their own.

More often they are used to clear excess than to tonify deficiency. 

Sliding Cupping to clear Invasion

For instance, someone catching a cold or fever, (in Chinese medicine this might be an invasion of ‘Wind-Cold‘ or ‘Wind-Heat‘), might receive a form of cupping called ‘sliding cupping’.

Sliding cupping on these Correspondence points is done by applying a lubricant such as a light oil, then the cups, and slowly sliding them up and down the back over the particular points for Wind-Cold or Wind-Heat until the skin becomes congested, and its colour goes purple. 

The effect is to clear the pathogenic factor (wind-cold or wind-heat), accelerate the general metabolism and assist waste and toxin elimination.