Characteristics

Extraordinary Vessel: The Du Mai and Ren Mai are the only Extraordinary Vessels that have their own acupuncture points. The other Extraordinary Vessels use points from the main channels.

The Du Mai Channel nourishes the brain and the marrow, carries the renal Essence to the Back-Shu points. It regulates the excesses of the Yang channels. It strengthens the back and the defensive Qi at the level of the Greater Yang level.

• Zones of influence: External genitals, back, spine, dorsum of neck and head.

It is the sea of the Yang channels: it connects, regulates and reserves the energy of the Yang channels.

SI-3 and BL-62 serve for disorders in the central nervous system and the Greater Yang level.

Almost all Du Mai points are needled obliquely: they are located between the spinous processes of two vertebrae. We always name the superior vertebra. If it is L4, the point is then in the space between L4 and L5.

Pathway

The Du Mai Channel originates in the Dan Tien. It directs toward CV-1, in the anterior perineum. From here several pathways branch off.

Main pathway

From CV-1 it reaches GV-1 and ascends to the coccyx up along the spine. At the level of GV-12 a collateral emerges that goes to BL-12 and returns to the main channel at GV-13 (draws two triangles). It continues its ascent to GV-16 where a branch emerges that penetrates the brain. From GV-16 it continues ascending along the midline to the vertex GV-20 from where another branch emerges that penetrates the brain. The main channel continues its course crossing the forehead, the nose, the nasolabial groove and ends between the upper lip frenulum. It has twenty-eight acupuncture points.

Secondary pathway 1

It begins from two sides:

• From one side it begins at GV-1, penetrates the coccyx and ascends along the sacral-lumbar line and then penetrates the kidneys (at the level of L2-L3).
• From another side it traverses the Bladder channel from the medial canthus of the eye BL-1, and follows the Bladder channel to the Kidney (BL-23). In the vertex area it also emits another small branch that goes to the brain.

Secondary pathway 2

It initiates from CV-1 and ascends along the anterior trunk following the course of the CV until it contours the lips and ends at the medial canthus of the eye BL-1.

Points

• GV-1. Changqiang Connecting (Luo) Point.
• GV-2. Yaoshu.
• GV-3. Yaoyanguan.
• GV-4. Mingmen.
• GV-5. Xuanshu.
• GV-6. Jizhong.
• GV-7. Zhongshu.
• GV-8. Jinsuo.
• GV-9. Zhiyang.
• GV-10. Lingtai.
• GV-11. Shendao.
• GV-12. Shenzhu.
• GV-13. Taodao.
• GV-14. Dazhui.
• GV-15. Yamen.
• GV-16. Fengfu.
• GV-17. Naohu.
• GV-18. Qiangjian.
• GV-19. Houding.
• GV-20. Baihui.
• GV-21. Qianding.
• GV-22. Xinhui.
• GV-23. Shangxing.
• GV-24. Shenting.
• GV-25. Suliao.
• GV-26. Renzhong.
• GV-27. Duiduan.
• GV-28. Yinjiao.

Opening and closing points

• Opening: SI-3.
• Closing: BL-62.
• Luo: GV-1.

Connecting Channel of Du Mai

The Du Mai Channel has a Connecting (Luo) vessel. See the Connecting Channel of Du Mai

It initiates at GV-1, encircles the entire spine, along the Hua Tuo Jia Ji, reaches the occipital region and then descends along all paravertebral regions and the dorsal area. It has connection with the branches of the Bladder channel.

Symptoms of the Connecting Channel of Du Mai:

• Fullness: rigidity, pain of the vertebral region, limitation of extension.
• Emptiness: hollow head, feeling of heaviness in the head, dizziness, loss of balance.

Du Mai Connections

• All Yang: GV-14, GV-20.
• Bladder Channel: GV-20, GV-17, GV-24, GV-12; GV-13, GV-1; BL-1; BL-23; BL-12.
• Yang Linking Vessel: GV-15, GV-16.
• With Liver: GV-20.
• Bladder and Stomach: GV-24.
• Yang Ming (Stomach and Large Intestine): GV-26.
• Spleen Muscle Channel: GV-6.

Du Mai Symptoms

Du Mai can be attacked by an external pathogenic factor that can attack it directly. GV-16 is quite sensitive to these attacks.

Often Du Mai becomes ill due to contamination from other Yang channels. A good example is the Bladder. Also Yang Ming and Yang Linking Vessel. A wind attack to the back can reach GV-16.

It can become ill from internal causes:

• Excess Yang. Symptoms: excitation, hallucinations.
• Kidney-Yang deficiency can affect Du Mai and through it affect other channels.

Classical texts

• Nan Jing: "When Du Mai is affected the spine is rigid and in severe cases produces syncope and icy cold".
• Mai Jing (pulsology): "When Du Mai is affected the spine is rigid and cold because the course that follows the spinal column is contracted".
• Zhen Jin Da Cheng (great compendium of acupuncture and moxibustion; contains all the magical formulas): "Hands and feet contracted and tremulous, Wind stroke (cerebrovascular accident) with aphasia, epilepsy, headache, swollen eyes and lacrimation, knee pain, back pain, lower back pain, stiffness of the nape, swelling and pain of the gums and throat, Ma Mu (hypoesthesia, numbness, paresthesia) of the hands and feet, night sweating. All these symptoms are treated through SI-3".

If you want to treat Du Mai, first needle SI-3, add the points you need and then close with BL-62.

Spine

Du Mai treats the spine. One of the most important symptoms is rigidity and pain of the spine. Whether Du Mai is in emptiness or fullness we can have spinal disorders.

First symptom: vertebral compression, vertebral compression, osteoarthritis, discopathy, inter-apophysial lesion...

• First palpate all along Du Mai searching for tender points.
• The point for the entire spine is GV-1 (Connecting (Luo) point), it is a very potent point because it launches the energy upward. The Hua Tuo Jia Ji points receive the energy of Du Mai through the Connecting Channel of Du Mai (1 GV).
• Another great point for the cervical region is GV-14. Some people develop a hump there and this indicates much stagnation. GV-14 + GB-20.

• If there is significant Kidney deficiency, Du Mai does not straighten the back. We see it in elderly people who become hunched (Du Mai emptiness). It can also give the sensation of "hollow head", "I hear ringing inside my head".
• Fullness pattern: headache.

Wind

Du Mai also has much to do with Wind:

• Interior Wind, such as interior Liver-Wind. Epilepsy. Palpate GV, needle also GV-1, GV-8 of sinews, Yao Qi extraordinary point on the sacrum.
• Exterior Wind. Headache, stiffness of the nape, runny nose, allergic rhinitis. It is not a cold that is treated with Metal, it is a matter of constitution, it is a matter of the sensory organs that are nourished by the Essence. GV-16, GV-23, GV-26 + eliminate the Wind from the body.

Mind

Du Mai participates in the nourishment of the brain and the functions of Shen.

• Excess: excitation, hallucinations, psychosis.
• Emptiness: loss of memory (GV-11 + BL-15, GV-20 + 4 intelligences), depression, tinnitus...

GV-26 is good for very high or very low Shen.

Symptoms of secondary pathways

Symptoms of secondary pathways:

• Paravertebral: you tend to treat the Bladder Channel and if it does not work may be due to Du Mai.
• Eye problem: you tend to think of Bladder, Stomach, Gall Bladder. If results are not obtained may need to add a Du Mai point.
• Abdominal pathway: uro-genital, gynecological. If you treat Conception Vessel and it does not resolve completely, Du Mai points can sometimes help.

Treatments

In all cases where you are going to treat Du Mai you begin by opening with SI-3.

• Locomotor system problems: paralysis, muscle atrophy, sequelae of other disorders.
• Psychic problems: SI-3 and BL-62, + Ghost Point GV-26.

• Hands and feet contracted with difficulty in flexion and extension. It may be rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis or a problem with ligaments and tendons. SI-3, LI-10, LI-11, LU-5 (retracted tendons), LI-4, LR-3, GB-39, SP-4, GB-34, BL-62.

• Rigidity, pain of the nape that prevents moving the head: SI-3, CV-24, GB-20, GV-16, BL-62, better to needle seated.

• Hemicranial headache (migraine): SI-3, LU-7, LI-4, Tai Yang (at the temple), GB-15 and TE-23.