陰谷 Yingu
“Yin Valley” · KI10
Foot Shaoyin · 10 of 27 · he-sea
Where. With the knee bent, at the inner end of the crease behind the knee, between two tendons.
For. Inner knee and thigh pain; difficult urination.
Press. Gentle finger pressure, no digging, about a minute each knee.
陰谷者，水也。在膝下內輔骨後，大筋之下，小筋之上，按之應手，屈膝得之按 · Press with me
Six slow breaths
About a minute. Press as you breathe out, ease as you breathe in.
鄰 · Neighbouring leaves
Where Yingu Sits Behind the Knee
Bend either knee and look into the hollow behind it: the popliteal fossa, a diamond-shaped space bounded above by the muscles of the back of the thigh and below by the calf. The dataset places Yingu at the medial end of this fossa — its inner corner, the side facing the other leg — and gives both the timing and the coordinates of the search: with the knee flexed, between the tendons of semitendinosus and semimembranosus. Notably, this entry carries no cun measurements at all. Many points are found by proportional distances stretched between bony landmarks; this one asks for a single gesture — bend the knee — and lets the anatomy announce itself, because bending slackens the hollow and lifts the two slender tendons into clear relief.
The territory under the fingertips repays a slow look. Semitendinosus and semimembranosus are two of the hamstring muscles running down the back of the thigh; near the knee they narrow into cord-like tendons that flank the inner side of the hollow. Between those cords lies soft tissue, and beneath it, not far down, the capsule of the knee joint, while vessels and nerves pass through the fossa on their way to the lower leg. None of this argues against touching the area — it argues for touching it the way one touches anything well-used and load-bearing: lightly, unhurriedly, and always on the surface. Self-palpation here is reconnaissance, not excavation.
The channel map explains why the tradition stationed a kidney point in this particular corner. The kidney meridian ascends from the sole of the foot up the inner leg toward the chest, and classical texts describe it surfacing at the inner edge of this very hollow before climbing onward along the inner thigh. Yingu therefore stands near the top of the channel’s leg journey, holding the inner corner where the ascending foot channel hands its climb upward. When classical practice wished to address the kidney system from the lower limb, this was one of the doors it knew how to open.
A Self-Palpation Walkthrough
Settle into a position that frees both hands and keeps the knee comfortably bent: sitting on the edge of a firm chair, rest one ankle across the opposite thigh, or prop the heel of one foot on a low stool so the knee bends past a right angle. With the free hand, come to the inner side of the bent knee and find the two cord-like tendons standing out of the hollow — they run down from the back of the thigh toward the shin. Walk your fingertips into the groove between those two cords, at the innermost corner of the hollow, and rest there. That groove, present only while the knee stays bent, is where the dataset locates Yingu.
A few quiet confirmations settle the search. Straighten and re-bend the knee a few degrees and watch the cords: they tighten and relax under your fingertip, confirming you sit between tendons rather than on plain soft tissue. Compare sides, feather-light first — most people notice a faint, dull awareness deep in the groove and little sensation a thumb-width away. Let the feeling arrive slowly; the answer of a true point is a spreading soreness or heaviness, never an alarm. If everything feels silent, slide half a thumb-width along the groove and ask again rather than pressing harder.
Three slips account for most misses. The first is drifting toward the centre of the crease behind the knee, which belongs to different ground altogether — stay at the innermost corner. The second is sliding too far down toward the calf; the groove between these tendons lives high, right at the mouth of the hollow. The third is hunting with the knee straight, when the tendons soften and hide and the hollow closes; keep the bend throughout the search. And throughout, remember that the hollow is generous with soft tissue but stingy with feedback — force muddies what patience would have revealed.
Reading the Name: Yin Valley
The name is a landscape in two characters. Yin 陰 means shade, shelter from the sun, and by extension the yin principle itself — cool, receptive, interior. Gu 谷 means valley, the fold between heights where water collects and streams begin. Together, Yingu reads as the Yin Valley: a shaded fold in the body’s terrain, hidden in the deepest crease of the bent knee, on the inner — the yin — aspect of the leg. The name describes the place so plainly that finding the point becomes a matter of stepping into the picture: approach the inner corner of the hollow, and the valley is simply there between its tendon ridges.
Yingu holds a second title that matters even more to the tradition: it is the he-sea point of the kidney channel. Classical teaching sketches five transport stages along each limb channel — places where the flow of qi runs, in turn, shallow as a well, quick as a spring, broad as a stream, steady as a river, and finally deep as waters arriving at the sea. At the he-sea stage the flow was said to pour inward and gather depth. The five-phase scheme laid over these stages assigns every yin channel’s he-sea point to the water phase — and the kidney channel already belongs to the water element. Tradition thus read Yingu as doubly watery: the valley stream of a water channel arriving, at last, at the sea.
Pinyin writes the name Yīngǔ: a flat, high first tone on yin and a dipping third tone on gu. The hanzi pair 陰谷 is simple enough to memorise at a glance. Names like this belong to a large family in which points carry the names of terrain — gates, valleys, pools, marshes, seas — because the classical writers genuinely pictured the channels as rivers of qi and blood crossing a body imagined as country. On such a map, calling this point a valley tells you how to think about it: the lowest, most sheltered ground around, where whatever flows nearby tends to collect. The name is a set of directions wearing poetry as clothes.
Traditional Indications, Explained
The recorded indications run: impotence, hernia, irregular menstruation, uterine bleeding, difficult urination, pain of the medial knee and thigh, and manic episodes. Take the long middle stretch together, because the tradition did. Impotence, irregular menstruation, and uterine bleeding belonged, in classical physiology, to the kidney system’s charge: the kidney was said to store essence, the deep reserve bound up with development, fertility, and the rhythms of reproduction, and the lower abdomen was the ground where those concerns announced themselves. A he-sea point of that channel — the place where its flow gathered deepest — stood ready in classical practice whenever those matters lost their ease. Hernia, in the old records, covered a range of groin and lower-abdominal protrusions and dragging pains, approached through the same channel logic.
Difficult urination fits the frame twice over. In traditional physiology the kidney governed water — the opening, closing, and free passage of fluids — and in the five-phase reading sketched above, Yingu is the water point of a water channel. Classical practice therefore reached here when water failed to move as it should. Pain of the medial knee and thigh needs little interpretation: the channel climbs exactly this line, and wherever a channel travels, points along its route were reached for complaints of the road itself. A point lying between two working tendons at the knee was a natural station for aching in the ground it overlooks.
Manic episodes close the list and deserve candour. Classical records grouped certain disturbances of the spirit among the uses of distant limb points, and this listing survives; the reasoning that carried it there is preserved less completely than the listing itself. Report it, then, as what it is — a record of how the tradition filed its cases, not a suggestion that any modern distress be met anywhere but with qualified care. And the standing rule covers everything above: these are traditional uses, documented for cultural and historical understanding, not claims that pressing the point treats disease. Where research touches self-applied pressure at all, reviews suggest effects are modest and heavily context-dependent, and evidence specific to any single point remains thin. Hold the tradition lightly, and hold the safety rules firmly.
Self-Care Acupressure at Home
With the point located, arrange comfort first, because a bent-knee point punishes impatience. Sit with one ankle crossed over the opposite thigh or the heel propped on a stool, the whole leg supported so nothing strains to hold the pose. Bring the pads of two fingers into the groove between the tendons — pads, never tips, knuckles, or tools — and begin with plain contact for a few breaths. Add small, slow circles, letting the skin glide over the tissue beneath. Pressure should register as pleasant dullness or mild warmth; if the leg twitches or the feeling sharpens, lighten at once. A comfortable home rhythm is one to three minutes per side, once or twice daily, paired with slow exhales so each circle rides the breath out. Swap legs and keep the two sessions symmetrical.
Because Yingu asks for a posture, treat the posture as part of the practice. Propping the heel and settling in turns two minutes of pressure into an actual pause — a change of pace the day rarely offers otherwise. Warm hands help, as always; chilled muscle guards itself. Choose a quiet corner over a screen, and let the session double as a breathing pause: inhale through the nose, feel the knee soften under still fingers, press gently on the long exhale. People who keep a routine usually anchor it to something habitual — the evening wind-down, the stretch after a walk — because regularity, not intensity, is what self-care traditions actually request. Both knees deserve the same courtesy; keeping sessions symmetrical keeps the practice honest.
Hold the minutes as attention rather than therapy. Across weeks you may notice the area feeling less guarded, the knee moving more easily after long days of standing or walking, or nothing at all except a daily moment spent inhabiting your own body — and that last outcome sits squarely within what self-acupressure honestly offers. What falls outside its borders is escalation: digging harder into the groove, stretching sessions to force a result, or continuing through pain. When curiosity pulls that way, return to gentleness or close the session for the day. The practice runs on consistency and restraint, not on drama.
Cautions and Safe Practice
Yingu arrives with an empty caution shelf: the licensed dataset records no contraindications for it, unlike points on the chest wall or at the throat whose entries carry explicit warnings. An empty field, though, is a statement about a record, not a licence for force — and the local geography adds a nuance worth respecting. Vessels and nerves share the hollow behind the knee on their way down the leg, and the joint capsule lies just beneath the soft tissue. Professional training navigates such terrain with exact technique; home self-care navigates it by staying strictly on the surface. Gentle fingertip pressure in the groove engages skin and the most superficial layers only — precisely the depth where this practice belongs.
The manners are quickly listed. Use finger pads only, keeping pressure at the level of pleasant dullness. Skip the area over cuts, rashes, or broken skin, and around prominent veins, varicosities, or any lump, swelling, or recent injury you cannot account for. Never press while holding the breath or through pain. Sharp, electric, numbing, or radiating sensation — especially anything shooting down the calf — means stop at once and leave the point alone for the day. Pregnant readers, and anyone living with diagnosed circulatory or nerve conditions affecting the legs, do best to consult a qualified practitioner before adding any new point practice.
And the wider rule stands over everything: this page is educational, acupressure is self-care, and neither diagnoses nor treats anything. Because the traditional portfolio includes urinary and knee concerns, put the boundary concretely: changes in urination that persist, blood in the urine, and any new, unexplained swelling, warmth, or significant pain behind the knee call for prompt medical assessment — not longer pressing sessions. Persistent symptoms of any kind belong with a licensed practitioner. The valley imagery is lovely, but the safest gift Yingu offers most people is a calmer acquaintance with the back of their own knee, treated kindly.
Yingu, the Yin Valley, rests at the inner end of the hollow behind the knee, between two cord-like tendons that rise when the knee bends. As the kidney channel’s he-sea point, classical practice read it as a place where the flow gathers deep — reached for when water stalled, cycles faltered, or the inner knee spoke. This guide walks you to the spot and shows gentle, safe self-pressure.
Self-care limits
Frequently asked
- How do I find Yingu without knowing anything about cun?
- You hardly need cun at all — this entry names no distances. Bend the knee, come to the inner corner of the hollow behind it, and find the two cord-like tendons standing there. Settle your fingertip into the groove between them. That groove, present only while the knee stays bent, is the location the dataset describes; the bend itself does the measuring.
- Is pressing Yingu myself actually safe?
- For healthy adults, gentle fingertip pressure held on the surface is reasonable self-care, and the licensed records carry no caution entry for the point. Two qualifications keep it that way: the hollow shares its space with vessels and nerves, so pressure stays light and superficial, and the stop signals — sharpness, numbness, anything radiating down the leg — end the session immediately whenever they appear.
- What did classical practice use Yingu for?
- The traditional record lists impotence, hernia, irregular menstruation, uterine bleeding, difficult urination, pain of the medial knee and thigh, and manic episodes. Most of the list follows from the kidney system’s traditional governance of essence, reproduction, and water, read through a he-sea point where the channel’s flow gathers deep. These are traditional frameworks, documented for context — not evidence-backed treatment claims.
- What does it mean that Yingu is a he-sea point?
- Classical teaching pictures each limb channel as a river with stations: shallow at the toe or fingertip, widening as it travels, until at the he-sea stage near the knee or elbow the flow pours inward and gathers depth like water meeting the sea. Yingu is that station for the kidney channel — and since the five-phase scheme assigns every yin channel’s he-sea point to water, the sea-gate of a water channel was read as doubly watery indeed.
- Can acupressure at Yingu replace seeing someone about my symptoms?
- No. Self-acupressure is a comfort practice, not a diagnosis or a therapy. Persistent changes in urination, blood in the urine, menstrual bleeding that is heavy or unusually prolonged, and any new swelling, warmth, or marked pain behind the knee need professional eyes promptly. Daily self-care lives downstairs; clinical medicine keeps the consulting room upstairs — visit it whenever symptoms persist, worsen, or frighten you.
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, he-sea theory, and channel context.
- 03aijiu-mpvue (MIT License) licensed dataset, entry for KI10 Yingu — location, point class, actions, and indication 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/ki10/leaf.json
- GET /zh-hant/points/ki10/leaf.json
- GET /zh-cn/points/ki10/leaf.json
- /llms.txt — the index of every leaf
- JSON-LD in the page: MedicalWebPage, MedicalEntity and FAQPage
{
"id": "KI10",
"name": {
"en": "Yingu",
"gloss": "Yin Valley",
"zh-Hant": "陰谷",
"zh-Hans": "阴谷"
},
"channel": {
"id": "KI",
"order": 10,
"of": 27
},
"location": {
"text": "With the knee bent, at the inner end of the crease behind the knee, between two tendons."
},
"for": [
"inner knee and thigh pain",
"difficult urination"
],
"press": {
"text": "Gentle finger pressure, no digging, about a minute each knee.",
"seconds": 60
},
"cautions": [],
"source": "Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing, book 3",
"url": "https://acupoints.com/en/points/ki10",
"lastReviewed": "2026-08-24"
}