頭竅陰 Touqiaoyin
“Yin Apertures of the Head” · GB11
Foot Shaoyang · 11 of 44 · crossing-point
Where. Behind the ear, on the scalp just above and behind the bony knob, one thumb-width below GB10.
For. Headache; ringing ears; a stiff neck.
Press. Light fingertip touch on the scalp, about a minute each side.
竅陰，在完骨上，枕骨下，搖動應手按 · Press with me
Six slow breaths
About a minute. Press as you breathe out, ease as you breathe in.
鄰 · Neighbouring leaves
Where Touqiaoyin Sits Behind the Ear
The dataset locates Touqiaoyin on the head, behind and above the mastoid process, at the junction of the middle third and lower third of the arcuate line running from Tianchong (GB9) down to Wangu (GB12), one cun below Fubai (GB10). Every clause of that sentence is touchable. The mastoid process is the firm, rounded bump of bone you can feel directly behind your own earlobe; follow it up and backward, and the territory just behind and above it belongs to this point. The arcuate line named in the record is the gentle curve the gallbladder points trace down the back of the ear — from Tianchong high within the hairline to Wangu low behind the mastoid. Split that curve into three equal stretches, and Touqiaoyin stands where the middle stretch hands off to the lowest one.
The cross-check comes from Fubai. The same record places Fubai at the junction of the upper third and middle third of that very line, and sets Touqiaoyin one cun below it — so the two stations sit one proportional thumb-width apart along the curve, Touqiaoyin always the lower of the pair. A cun, as throughout Chinese point-location, is measured from the body itself rather than from a ruler: the width of the person’s own thumb joint serves as the traditional unit, so the same written distance flexes with each head it lands on. What lies under the fingertip here is friendly ground by skull standards: scalp and a thin layer of soft tissue drawn tight over solid temporal bone, with no deep corridor to stray into. Hair usually covers the site, and asks only for patience.
The neighbours turn the location into a small ladder of four stations. At the top sits Tianchong, higher still within the hairline above the root of the ear. One stretch below stands Fubai, at the junction of the upper and middle thirds. One stretch further down waits Touqiaoyin, behind and above the mastoid’s crown. And at the bottom rests Wangu, tucked into the depression below and behind the mastoid process itself. Walking the four stations in order turns a vague search into simple bookkeeping, and comparing the two sides keeps it honest, since the skull’s landmarks rarely sit at perfectly identical heights.
A Self-Palpation Walkthrough
Sit upright before a mirror if one helps, shoulders easy, jaw loose, and work on one side at a time. First find the mastoid process: press gently just behind the left earlobe and feel for the rounded knob of bone there. Let the pad of your right index finger glide upward off that knob onto the scalp behind and slightly above it — you have stepped straight into Touqiaoyin’s territory, because the record places the point exactly there. To pin the spot more finely, borrow the ladder: trace the curve behind the ear from its low end at Wangu’s hollow, below and behind the mastoid, upward past Touqiaoyin and onward one thumb-width to Fubai. Divide that climb into three equal stretches in your mind, and settle your fingertip where the middle stretch meets the last. Stay a moment, then swap hands and repeat the whole sequence on the other side.
A few quiet confirmations help before any pressure begins. Touch feather-light and compare sides: many people notice a faint, dull awareness or slight tenderness at the true site and little sensation half a finger-width away — the scalp here tends to speak plainly. Part the hair gently rather than pressing through it, and remember that freshly washed, still-damp strands cling and blur the landmarks. Check the neighbourhood too: sliding one stretch further down the curve should carry you toward Wangu’s hollow, while gliding one stretch up should deliver you to Fubai’s ground. If everything under your fingertip feels like bare, featureless bone, you are simply touching the skull itself — ease along the curve until the ladder’s rungs reappear.
Three slips account for nearly every lost search. Landing too low drops you into the depression behind and beneath the mastoid — Wangu’s ground, distinctly lower and closer to the earlobe. Creeping one stretch too high delivers you to Fubai, a full cun above along the line. And drifting forward abandons the behind-the-ear curve entirely, wandering onto the ear cartilage or into the groove between ear and skull, where the line no longer means anything. Whenever doubt arises, return to the mastoid knob, step up onto the scalp behind and above it, and recount the thirds slowly. The point has not moved; only the map in your head has folded.
Reading the Name: Yin Apertures of the Head
The name reads like a small map of nearby anatomy. Tou 頭 means head — the plainest possible opener, naming the region outright. Qiao 竅 means aperture, hole, opening — the word classical teaching used for the sensory openings of the face, of which tradition counts seven: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and the mouth. Yin 陰 carries its familiar freight — shade, quietness, the receptive inward-facing principle. Joined, Touqiaoyin reads as the Yin Apertures of the Head: a station named for the cluster of openings through which the world reaches inward. Few point names announce their portfolio so openly, and the recorded indications — eye pain, tinnitus, deafness — seem to answer the name directly.
Why apertures, and why yin? Classical physiology assigned each of the face’s openings to an organ system: the ears were read as the aperture of the kidney system, the eyes as the aperture of the liver. The gallbladder channel is classically paired with the liver channel — the two share the wood phase and mirror each other as interior and exterior — so a gallbladder station standing beside the ear sat naturally in old discussions of troubled hearing and sight. The category records add a second layer: the dataset files Touqiaoyin as a crossing-point, the classical label for places where channels meet and interweave. The side of the head was crowded territory on the traditional map, and a hub named for the apertures gathered those conversations at a single address.
Pinyin renders the name Tóuqiàoyīn. The tou rises on the second tone, the lifting voice of a question; qiao falls squarely away on the fourth; yin rides high, flat, and held on the first — a rise, a fall, and a long steady note, like water finding its level. The hanzi trio 頭竅陰 stays compact enough to memorise at a glance. Like many of the best point names, this one doubles as a job description: know what the characters say — head, aperture, yin — and you already understand why classical practice consulted this spot when eyes and ears complained, and why it asked to be approached gently.
Traditional Indications, Explained
The recorded indications read: headache, dizziness, eye pain, tinnitus, deafness, sore throat, stiff neck, and goitre. The first five belong together in the traditional frame. Headache in the old records meant largely the one-sided sort reaching toward temple, ear, and the back of the skull — the territory this channel crosses. Dizziness covered a spinning, unsteady world; the old frame understood such moments as clear yang failing to rise and brighten the head, or as an inner stirring the tradition called wind. Eye pain, tinnitus, and deafness are the apertures themselves speaking — and against the backdrop of the name, their place at the top of this point’s list hardly surprises: the tradition filed troubles of seeing and hearing precisely here.
Sore throat and stiff neck travel the channel’s road downward. Classical texts describe the pathway passing behind the ear where Touqiaoyin stands, then descending the side of the neck toward the shoulder before continuing along the body’s flank — so complaints along that descending stretch, a rasping throat or a neck grown stiff and reluctant to turn, were approached at points along the route. Goitre, the visible swelling at the front of the throat, appears in the same company as at neighbouring points, and needs the same honest translation: whatever it meant in another era’s records, any new lump or persistent swelling in the neck today belongs promptly with a physician, never with self-treatment of any kind. It is preserved here as part of the record, flagged as history rather than invitation.
It bears repeating plainly: these are the traditional uses recorded in a licensed dataset and classical literature, offered for cultural and historical understanding. They are not claims that pressing this point treats any condition, and nothing here replaces assessment by a qualified clinician. Where modern research touches self-applied pressure at all, reviews suggest effects are modest and context-dependent, and evidence specific to any single point remains thin. Hold the tradition lightly, hold the safety rules firmly, and treat any sudden headache, any change in hearing or vision, or any dizziness that will not settle as a reason to seek professional eyes rather than firmer thumbs.
Self-Care Acupressure at Home
With the point confirmed by the walkthrough, settle in: seated, spine tall but unforced, jaw released. Part the hair over the spot with one hand and rest the pads of the index and middle fingers of the other upon it. Begin with contact alone for several slow breaths — presence before pressure. Then add small, slow circles, letting the skin glide over the bone beneath; the sensation to seek is pleasant dullness or mild warmth, never sharper. A comfortable home rhythm is about one minute per side, once or twice daily, matched where possible to long, unhurried exhales, then swapped so both sides receive the same courtesy.
Quality matters more than duration everywhere in this practice, and nowhere more than on the thin scalp stretched over bone behind the ear. Warm your hands first — chilled fingertips make scalps flinch. Choose a quiet corner over a screen, because the session doubles as a pause: eyes softened, jaw heavy, inhale through the nose, and let each small circle ride the exhale out. People who keep such routines tend to anchor them to existing habits — after morning washing, beside an afternoon tea — because consistency, not intensity, is what self-care traditions actually ask for.
Treat the exercise as a minute of attended quiet rather than a treatment with a goal. Across weeks you may notice the spot feels less tender to the touch, that pauses leave the jaw and temples a little looser, or simply that you spent time caring for a corner of the body rarely thanked. All of that fits the honest scope of self-acupressure. Escalation does not: if curiosity pushes toward harder, longer, or deeper pressure to force some outcome, answer it with gentleness or close the day’s practice. The apertures ask for quiet company, not conquest — and the point will be behind the ear tomorrow, exactly where the map says.
Cautions and Safe Practice
The licensed record carries no special caution for this point — unlike several neighbours elsewhere on the body whose entries warn of deep structures — but absence of a written warning is never licence for force. The geography itself sets the tone: scalp and a thin layer of soft tissue lie directly over solid bone here, with nothing deep to reach and no reason to try. Gentle surface contact engages exactly the layers suited to self-care; anything heavier merely grinds comfort away without adding benefit. This page teaches acupressure only, and reports professional techniques without instructing them.
The practical rules follow from that picture. Use finger pads only — never knuckles, elbows, nails, or tools. Keep every touch feather-light, and never press through pain or while holding the breath. Skip the point entirely over broken, irritated, or eruptive skin, over fresh scars, and during a feverish illness. Stop at once on sharp, electric, or radiating sensation, and do not try again that day. Pregnant readers, and anyone living with a neurological condition, an ear disorder, or ongoing headaches under medical care, should consult a qualified practitioner before adding any new point practice. Children deserve a firm boundary of their own: a child’s head is not a practice ground, and a child’s symptoms call for a clinician, not a pressure routine.
And the rule above all rules stands over everything: this page is educational, and acupressure is self-care, not diagnosis or therapy. Seek prompt medical care — not a longer session — for sudden severe headache, sudden or progressive hearing change, dizziness that will not settle, eye pain joined by disturbed vision, any new lump in the neck or throat, or anything that frightens you. Persistent complaints belong with a licensed practitioner, physician or East Asian medicine provider as the complaint suggests. The name promised care for the head’s quiet openings; the safest version of that care is attention held lightly — and the serious business of health left to those trained for it.
Touqiaoyin — the Yin Apertures of the Head — stands behind the ear, above the bony mastoid lump, where the scalp climbs toward the crown. Classical practice reached for it when headache, dizziness, or troubled eyes and ears wore a person down. This guide walks through finding it by touch and pressing it safely.
Self-care limits
Frequently asked
- How do I find Touqiaoyin without memorising measurements?
- Anchor on the mastoid, the round knob of bone behind your earlobe, then move onto the scalp behind and above it — the record places the point exactly there. To be finer-grained, trace the curve behind the ear between Tianchong above and Wangu below, split it into three equal stretches, and settle where the middle meets the lowest. The one-cun language of the classical location simply encodes the same landmark walk in proportional terms.
- Is pressing Touqiaoyin myself actually safe?
- Gentle fingertip contact on the scalp here is generally reasonable self-care for healthy adults, because the ground beneath is solid bone — skin and thin soft tissue receive the pressure, far short of anything delicate. The dataset records no specific caution for this point. Even so, respect the stop signals: sharp pain, electric or radiating sensation, or discomfort that worsens all mean finish immediately, and none of the rules bend toward force.
- What did classical practice use Touqiaoyin for?
- The traditional record lists headache, dizziness, eye pain, tinnitus, deafness, sore throat, stiff neck, and goitre. The eye and ear entries sit naturally under a name that means the yin apertures of the head, and the throat and neck entries follow the channel’s descent past this point. Those are frameworks for understanding old practice, documented for context — not evidence-backed treatment claims, and not invitations to self-treat serious symptoms.
- Why does a gallbladder-channel point stand behind the ear?
- Classical texts describe the pathway beginning near the outer corner of the eye and zigzagging down the side of the head — the route that meridian summaries condense to a zigzag from head to fourth toe. Behind the ear is one of its gathering stretches: the points collect there before the path turns down the neck toward the shoulder and the long journey down the body. Touqiaoyin stands midway along that behind-the-ear collection, which is why its neighbours above and below share so much of its recorded portfolio.
- When should I see a doctor instead of pressing on?
- Whenever the body raises a proper flag: sudden severe headache, sudden or worsening hearing change, ringing or dizziness that persists, eye pain with visual disturbance, a new neck lump, or any symptom that frightens you. Daily acupressure and clinical medicine serve different moments; knowing which door to walk through is itself a health skill, and with the head’s apertures the clinic’s door is the one to choose whenever anything looks or sounds wrong.
Sources
- 01WHO Standard Acupuncture Point Locations in the Western Pacific Region (2008), World Health Organization — nomenclature conventions.
- 02A Manual of Acupuncture, Peter Deadman, Mazin Al-Khafaji and Kevin Baker — point-name tradition, crossing-point theory, and channel context.
- 03aijiu-mpvue (MIT License) licensed dataset, entry for GB11 Touqiaoyin — location, point class, and action record.
Last reviewed
牌記This leaf, for machines
Old books ended with a colophon saying who printed them. Every leaf here carries the same facts as structured data for agents and search, with no layout in the way.
- GET /en/points/gb11/leaf.json
- GET /zh-hant/points/gb11/leaf.json
- GET /zh-cn/points/gb11/leaf.json
- /llms.txt — the index of every leaf
- JSON-LD in the page: MedicalWebPage, MedicalEntity and FAQPage
{
"id": "GB11",
"name": {
"en": "Touqiaoyin",
"gloss": "Yin Apertures of the Head",
"zh-Hant": "頭竅陰",
"zh-Hans": "头窍阴"
},
"channel": {
"id": "GB",
"order": 11,
"of": 44
},
"location": {
"text": "Behind the ear, on the scalp just above and behind the bony knob, one thumb-width below GB10."
},
"for": [
"headache",
"ringing ears",
"a stiff neck"
],
"press": {
"text": "Light fingertip touch on the scalp, about a minute each side.",
"seconds": 60,
"sides": "both"
},
"cautions": [],
"source": "Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing, book 3",
"url": "https://acupoints.com/en/points/gb11",
"lastReviewed": "2026-08-24"
}