An artery runs here: never press on the beat.
極泉 Jiquan
“Summit Spring” · HT1
Hand Shaoyin · 1 of 9
Where. With the arm raised, in the centre of the armpit, where you can feel a pulse.
For. Shoulder and arm ache, pain along the ribs.
Press. Light touch beside the pulse, never on it, one minute each side.
Caution. An artery runs here: never press on the beat.
極泉，在腋下筋間，動脈入胸中按 · Press with me
Six slow breaths
About a minute. Press as you breathe out, ease as you breathe in.
鄰 · Neighbouring leaves
Where Jiquan Sits: At the Apex of the Armpit
The dataset places Jiquan in the axilla — the armpit — with the arm abducted, at the apex of the axillary fossa, where the pulse of the axillary artery is palpable. Each phrase earns its place. The axilla is the tent-like hollow between the upper arm and the side of the chest; its apex is the highest dome of that hollow, tucked up toward the shoulder joint rather than low on the ribs. Abducting the arm — lifting it away from the body — opens the space so fingertips can reach the top. And where most points are located by proportional body measure, this one carries a rarer address: a heartbeat felt directly under the finger.
That pulsing signature deserves respect ahead of curiosity. The vessel making it is the axillary artery, a major highway of blood to the whole arm, crossing the very hollow the point occupies. Bundles of nerve travel pressed close around it, which is why a careless poke here can spark tingling down the limb. Classical location texts are correspondingly careful about this spot, and the modern licensed record carries an explicit warning for professional technique. None of that argues against knowing the point; it argues for approaching it the way one approaches any place where important structures run shallow — slowly, lightly, with attention ahead of force.
Neighbours confirm the line of travel. Once the channel leaves the armpit it walks straight down the inner aspect of the arm: Qingling (HT2) sits below Jiquan on the connecting line toward Shaohai (HT3), three cun above the elbow crease, in the groove beside the biceps muscle — three cun being roughly the width of four fingers held together, though a cun always scales to the person being measured. Jiquan stands upstream of all of it, the spring-head above the stream, which is exactly how its name pictures the place.
A Self-Palpation Walkthrough
Sit upright and let the shoulder soften first; a guarded shoulder walls off the armpit. Bring the left arm slightly out and up — resting the hand behind the head works well — so the hollow opens without strain. With the right hand, lay your index and middle fingertips into the highest part of the left armpit and slide them gently inward, toward the chest-side wall of the hollow, until the pads meet a steady, drum-soft throb. That is the axillary artery announcing the address. Keep the touch feather-light throughout; you are listening with the fingers, not pushing.
A few confirmations settle the location before any practice begins. The pulse itself is the primary witness — nothing else in the hollow throbs in rhythm with the heart. Many people also notice a faint dull soreness when the true spot is brushed, and little sensation a thumb-width away. Compare sides with the same light contact, since the two armpits can differ in sensitivity. One caution belongs inside the walkthrough itself: finding the pulse confirms placement, but it never invites pressure. Confirm by touch alone, then let the fingers rest just beside the vessel when practice begins.
Common slips are easy to name. Searching too low is the classic one — the apex sits high in the dome of the hollow, near the shoulder, not down on the ribs along the chest side. Pressing too hard is the second: a heavy fingertip generates its own throbbing and drowns the signal. Ticklishness defeats some people at first touch; slow entry, a long exhale, and short nails make it manageable. If nothing turns up, lower the arm, rest a moment, and begin again — the artery has not moved, only your attention has.
Reading the Name: Summit Spring
The two characters sketch the site in miniature. Ji 極 carries the oldest sense of the ridgepole — the topmost beam that crowns a traditional roof — and by extension everything utmost: the apex, the farthest reach. Quan 泉 is a spring, water welling up out of the ground of its own accord. Read together, Jiquan is the summit spring: the highest point the heart channel touches on the body surface, named for the water imagery classical commentators found natural where a strong pulse beat under the skin.
The metaphor does real work in the tradition. Classical texts describe the heart pathway arising deep around the organ itself and only surfacing here, at the armpit, before running down the inner arm to end at the little finger — nine points in all from source to fingertip. First point, highest point: qi gathered in the chest pours over the summit and descends the limb like water released downhill. Chinese point names return constantly to water — valleys, abysses, pools, wells, springs — because the channels were imagined as rivers, and this one begins at its own fountainhead.
Pinyin renders the name Jíquán, both syllables spoken on the rising second tone, so the word itself lifts as it leaves the mouth — a fitting sound for water climbing through rock before it spills. The hanzi pair 極泉 is spare enough to memorise at a glance, and like many channel names it doubles as instruction: go to the top of the hollow, and look there for the flow. The name is the map folded small.
Traditional Indications, Explained
The recorded indications read: cardiac pain, palpitations, shoulder and arm pain, hypochondriac pain, and scrofula. Framed as tradition rather than promise: the first two belong to the heart’s own household — the organ’s domain of chest pain and disordered rhythm was approached at points of its channel, and none stands closer to that domain than the channel’s opening point. Hypochondriac pain means discomfort along the sides of the ribcage below the armpits, a region the classical texts describe the heart channel touching as it crosses the chest. Shoulder and arm pain follows the same map: whatever ached along the inner-arm course could be met at points along the route.
This is the traditional logic of channel thinking, worth understanding on its own terms. A channel was drawn as a road with addresses; complaints along the road were attended at points beside it, and complaints at the organ were attended at the points nearest its gate. Jiquan, standing at both the summit of the limb-course and the threshold of the chest, gathered both kinds of traffic. Nothing in that picture claims what a modern clinical trial would; it records how generations reasoned, and why the point earned its place in their manuals.
The last indication needs honest handling. Scrofula was the old umbrella term for chronic nodular swellings of the neck and armpit, and classical discussions of such gatherings reached for nearby points — among them those of the armpit itself. Whatever the tradition did, the modern reading is fixed: any new, growing, or persistent lump belongs with a doctor for assessment first, and self-care never substitutes for diagnosis. As for all the indications above, these are traditional uses recorded in a licensed dataset and classical literature, offered for cultural and historical understanding; where research touches self-applied pressure at all, reviews suggest effects are modest and context-dependent, and evidence for any single point remains thin.
Self-Care Acupressure at Home
Prepare the way a careful cook does: warm hands, short nails, no watch or bracelet on the working wrist. Sit comfortably and bring the arm gently out from the body until the hollow opens. Locate the pulse with a feather-light touch, then move the fingerpads just beside the vessel — not squarely on top of it — and let them settle. Begin with contact alone for a few breaths, then add small, slow circles in the soft tissue around the area, letting the skin glide. A common home rhythm is one to three minutes per side, once or twice daily, matched where possible to slow exhales; then swap hands and give the other side its turn.
Lighter is the rule here — lighter than almost anywhere else on the arm. The skin of the armpit is thin, the tissue beneath tender, and the vessels and nerves near the surface, so the pleasant dull warmth self-care aims for arrives with far less force than at, say, the forearm points. Sharpness, electricity, or anything radiating down the arm means stop at once. If the area is ticklish, work through a thin layer of clothing at first, entering slowly on a long breath out. Quality of attention, not depth of push, is the whole craft.
Treat the few minutes as a ceremony of attention rather than a treatment session. Perhaps the chest feels easier while you press; perhaps breathing deepens; perhaps nothing changes except that you spent ninety seconds being present to your own body. All of that fits within the honest scope of self-acupressure. What does not fit is escalation — firmer pressure, longer holds, bearing directly and harder on the pulse to force sensation. When curiosity pulls that way, come back to gentleness, or simply finish for the day.
Cautions and Safe Practice
Jiquan carries a written warning, and it deserves first position here. The licensed dataset cautions practitioners to needle away from the axillary artery to avoid bleeding — a reminder that a major vessel crosses the exact territory of the point. Professional training manages that risk with precise technique and anatomy learned by study; home self-care manages it differently and more simply, by never leaving the surface and never loading weight onto the vessel. Fingertip contact beside a pulse is gentle work; compressing an artery is not self-care at any level.
The practical rules gather easily. Use fingerpads only — never elbows, knuckles, or tools — and keep each touch brief and light, never firm or sustained on the pulsation itself. Skip the point over broken or irritated skin, over swollen or tender lumps in the armpit, during any acute illness, and for weeks after shoulder, chest, or underarm surgery until ordinary activity is cleared. Pregnant readers, anyone taking blood-thinning medication, and people living with circulatory conditions should ask a qualified practitioner before adding any new point practice. Electric, sharp, or radiating sensation means stop immediately; lingering numbness or tingling afterward means rest the arm and do not retry that day.
And the wider rule stands over everything: this page is educational, and acupressure is self-care, not diagnosis or therapy. Seek prompt medical care — not a pressure routine — for chest pain or tightness, palpitations with dizziness, fainting or near-fainting, breathlessness, any new lump in the armpit or neck, or a swollen, pale, or cold arm. Persistent symptoms belong with a licensed practitioner — Western medicine or East Asian medicine, whichever suits the complaint. The safest gift Jiquan offers most people is acquaintance with their own anatomy, met respectfully and released quickly.
Jiquan, the Summit Spring, opens the heart channel at the very top of the armpit — one of the few points whose address is a pulse rather than a measurement. Classical practice reached for it when cardiac pain, palpitations, or an aching arm troubled someone. This guide walks through finding it by touch, gently, and pressing it safely at home.
Cautions from the classical sources
- Keep the needle away from the axillary artery to prevent bleeding.
Self-care limits
Frequently asked
- How do I find Jiquan without knowing anything about cun?
- You barely need measurements here — this point is found by pulse, not by ruler. Lift the arm slightly away from the body, slide your fingertips into the highest dome of the armpit hollow toward the chest-side wall, and wait for the steady throb beneath the pads. That pulse is the street number; proportional cun counts matter far less here than at most points on the channel.
- Is pressing Jiquan myself actually safe?
- For healthy adults, gentle surface contact beside the pulse is generally reasonable self-care. The danger recorded in the dataset concerns professional technique close to the artery — a category home acupressure never approaches. Still respect the stop signals: sharp pain, electric tingling, or worsening discomfort means finish immediately, and never bear down hard or long on the pulsation itself.
- What did classical practice use Jiquan for?
- The traditional record lists cardiac pain, palpitations, shoulder and arm pain, hypochondriac pain, and scrofula. As the channel’s opening point, nearest the heart’s own territory, chest complaints dominate its historic portfolio. These are traditional frameworks for understanding the body, documented for context — not evidence-backed treatment claims.
- Why does the heart channel begin in the armpit?
- Classical texts describe the pathway arising deep around the heart itself, making its connections inside the trunk, and only then surfacing at the armpit before walking down the inner arm to end at the little finger, nine points in all. Starting at the summit lets the channel run downhill like the spring its first point is named for.
- Can acupressure at Jiquan replace seeing a doctor about palpitations?
- No. Self-acupressure is a comfort practice, not a diagnostic tool. Palpitations accompanied by chest pain, dizziness, vision dimming or near-fainting, breathlessness, or actual fainting need prompt professional assessment. Daily self-care lives downstairs; clinical medicine keeps the consulting room upstairs for when symptoms persist or escalate. Neither substitutes for the other.
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 and channel context.
- 03aijiu-mpvue (MIT License) licensed dataset, entry for HT1 Jiquan — location, actions, and caution 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/ht1/leaf.json
- GET /zh-hant/points/ht1/leaf.json
- GET /zh-cn/points/ht1/leaf.json
- /llms.txt — the index of every leaf
- JSON-LD in the page: MedicalWebPage, MedicalEntity and FAQPage
{
"id": "HT1",
"name": {
"en": "Jiquan",
"gloss": "Summit Spring",
"zh-Hant": "極泉",
"zh-Hans": "极泉"
},
"channel": {
"id": "HT",
"order": 1,
"of": 9
},
"location": {
"text": "With the arm raised, in the centre of the armpit, where you can feel a pulse."
},
"for": [
"shoulder and arm ache",
"pain along the ribs"
],
"press": {
"text": "Light touch beside the pulse, never on it, one minute each side.",
"seconds": 60,
"sides": "both"
},
"cautions": [
"An artery runs here: never press on the beat."
],
"source": "Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing, book 3",
"url": "https://acupoints.com/en/points/ht1",
"lastReviewed": "2026-08-24"
}