伏兔 Futu
“Crouching Rabbit” · ST32
Foot Yangming · 32 of 45
Where. On the bulge of the front thigh muscle, eight finger-widths above the outer top corner of the kneecap.
For. Weak legs, low-back ache, cold, numb knees.
Press. Firm thumb pressure, about a minute each leg.
伏兔，在膝上六寸起肉間按 · Press with me
Six slow breaths
About a minute. Press as you breathe out, ease as you breathe in.
鄰 · Neighbouring leaves
Where Futu Sits on the Front of the Thigh
The dataset locates Futu on the front of the thigh, on the line running from the anterior superior iliac spine to the lateral end of the base of the patella, six cun above the base of the patella — classically found six thumb-widths above the knee on the bulge of the quadriceps. Every term in that description unpacks cleanly. The anterior superior iliac spine is the blunt bony point felt at the very front of the hip, where the pelvic crest dips forward; the base of the patella is simply the upper rim of the kneecap. A cun is the traditional measuring unit of Chinese point-location: proportional lengths taken from the person being examined rather than from a ruler, so a cun measured on a tall, long-thighed adult differs from a cun on a shorter frame. The record helpfully translates itself: six cun here amounts to about six of your own thumb-widths climbed straight up from the kneecap rim.
What lies beneath the skin here is the great extensor engine of the leg. The quadriceps femoris — the four-headed muscle of the thigh — spreads across the whole front of the limb, and its work is to straighten the knee: rising from a chair, climbing stairs, catching a misstep. At this height the muscle gathers into the rounded prominence classical writers likened to a crouching animal, the central strap of the rectus femoris riding over the broader sweep of the outer head. Beneath the muscle lies the femur itself, deep and well padded. Compared with points high on the chest or abdomen, this is forgiving ground: there is no cavity to stray into, only meat and bone doing honest work. Forgiving ground still deserves unhurried hands — thick muscle responds to patient contact far better than to force.
The neighbourhood confirms the address. The stomach channel runs down the front of the body from the face all the way to the second toe, and the front of the thigh is one long straight stretch of that road: the dataset places every station on this stretch on the same line, from the region near the hip down toward the knee. Biguan (ST31) stands much higher, close to where thigh meets trunk. Yinshi (ST33) waits below, three cun above the base of the patella — halfway between Futu and the kneecap. It is worth noticing that the catalogue’s indication lists for these stations lean the same way, toward the leg itself: weakness and wasting of the lower limb, trouble around the knee, ache carried down from the lumbar region. Stations on one road, speaking about one territory.
A Self-Palpation Walkthrough
Sit on a firm chair with both feet flat, or lie on your back with the legs relaxed — either way the thigh muscle softens and the landmarks stand out. Begin at the knee: place your finger pads on the top rim of the kneecap and trace it side to side until the edge feels familiar. Then find the bony point at the front of the hip with the other hand. Picture the line joining the two. Now climb: lay your thumb on the kneecap rim and walk it up the front of the thigh, snugly, one width at a time — six widths for most bodies — until you arrive on the firm, rounded bulge of muscle. Settle the pads of the index and middle fingers there. Then repeat the whole search on the other leg, because everyone carries the mirror-image point on both thighs.
Two confirmations help before pressing begins. First, ask the muscle to show itself: straighten the knee slightly or lift the heel a few centimetres off the floor, and feel the tissue under your fingertips bunch and harden — that is the quadriceps announcing itself, and the true point sits squarely on its bulk. Second, compare sides with a feather-light touch. Many people notice a faint, dull awareness at the accurate spot and little sensation a thumb-width away in any direction. Neither test needs strength; both reward slowness. If the area feels numb and anonymous, go back to the kneecap rim and count the thumb-widths again rather than pressing harder in hope.
The classic slips are predictable. Drifting toward the outer edge of the thigh leaves the recorded line, which hugs the front of the limb; keep the searching hand centred. Counting carelessly is the commonest fault — a thumb laid down loosely covers less distance than a snug one, so keep each placement honest and repeatable. Landing too low drops you into Yinshi territory, three cun up instead of six; wandering too high walks you toward the hip fold. When in doubt, return to the kneecap rim, start the count over, and move slowly. Accuracy in point-location comes from repeating a sequence, never from digging deeper at the wrong address.
Reading the Name: The Crouching Rabbit
The characters draw a picture. Fu 伏 means to crouch, to lie prostrate, to hide low and still — the posture of an animal keeping out of sight. Tu 兔 is the rabbit. Classical texts describe the muscular prominence of the front thigh as resembling a rabbit crouching in the grass, and commentators add a charming detail: in the old anatomical descriptions the name belonged to the muscle mass itself before it named the point, as though the thigh housed a resident animal and the point simply inherited its address. Read together, Futu renders naturally as the Crouching Rabbit — one of the most visual names on the entire channel.
The image earns its keep. Straighten a leg or rise from a chair and watch the front of the thigh: the belly of muscle rounds and firms, exactly like some small creature gathering itself low before moving. Five-phase teaching assigns the stomach channel to the element of earth, and earth imagery suits a name rooted in flesh and field rather than in gates and palaces. Like many channel points named for animals, valleys, courtyards, or storehouses, the metaphor does real work: it tells you where to look — on the bulge — and what the spot belongs to: the working body of the leg, not a bony edge or a fold of skin.
Pinyin renders the name Fútù, with a rising second tone on fu and a falling fourth tone on tu. The hanzi pair 伏兔 stays memorable at a glance: a crouching figure beside a rabbit. Naming habits vary across the channels — gates, valleys, courtyards, storehouses elsewhere — and here the tradition chose a small animal portrait. The name is itself a set of instructions: find the crouching shape, press gently, and leave the rabbit undisturbed.
Traditional Indications, Explained
The recorded indications read: atrophy and paralysis of the lower limb, lumbar pain, cold numb knees, hernia, beriberi, and urticaria. Framed as tradition rather than promise, the first three belong plainly to the leg. What the old records group under atrophy and paralysis of the lower limb covers weakness, wasting, and difficulty moving a leg — the broad territory classical medicine called flaccidity. Lumbar pain needs little translation: ache seated in the low back, which classical practice often approached along the channel roads of the lower body rather than only at the back itself. Cold numb knees names a familiar subjective experience — knees that feel cold, heavy, or muffled — recorded here as a knee complaint addressed from the thigh just above.
The remaining three are historical categories, and they deserve careful reading. Hernia in the classical records is a wide umbrella over dragging, bulging discomfort in the groin and lower abdomen, often described as worse with strain; it maps neatly onto no single modern diagnosis. Beriberi — jiao qi in Chinese, foot-qi — was the traditional category for leg ailments marked by heaviness, swelling, numbness, or weakness; the modern vitamin-deficiency disease borrowed its translated name, and the overlap between the two is partial at best. Urticaria names the raised, itching wheals of hives, which classical teaching associated with wind stirring in the skin. These are recorded categories offered for cultural and historical understanding: the dataset preserves what classical practice wrote down, without settling how it maps onto present-day medicine.
It bears repeating plainly: these are the traditional uses recorded in a licensed dataset and classical literature, offered here for cultural and historical understanding. They are not claims that pressing this point treats disease, and nothing in this guide 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. Notice, too, the pattern inside the list itself: the leg-centred entries sit naturally beside a point on the leg’s main working muscle, while the wider entries ride the older, broader associations classical literature attached to the stomach channel. Hold the tradition lightly, and hold the safety rules firmly.
Self-Care Acupressure at Home
With the point located by the walkthrough above, settle into position: seated with both feet down, or half-lying with the legs supported, whichever lets the thigh go soft. Rest your whole palm flat over the bulge first — broad contact warms and settles the muscle — then narrow to the pads of two or three fingers directly on the spot. Begin with contact alone for a few breaths, then add small, slow circles, letting the skin glide over the muscle beneath rather than grinding against the thigh bone. Pressure should register as pleasant dullness or mild warmth, never sharpness. A common home rhythm is one to three minutes per side, once or twice daily, matched where possible to slow exhales so each circle rides the breath out. Swap hands or sides afterward and keep the two sessions symmetrical.
Quality matters more than duration. Light, patient, regularly repeated contact fits the wellness register this page practises. A big muscle tolerates more force than a thin one, but tolerance is not invitation — hard jabbing teaches the body nothing and leaves bruises behind. Warm your hands first if they run cold, since chilled muscle guards. Choose a quiet corner over a screen, and let the practice double as a pause: inhale through the nose, feel the thigh lying heavy under still fingers, ease the pressure on the long exhale. People who keep a routine often anchor it to an existing habit — after morning stretches, before an evening walk — because consistency, not intensity, is what self-care traditions actually ask for.
Treat the exercise as a small ceremony of attention rather than a treatment session. Notice what changes across weeks: perhaps stairs feel lighter, perhaps the area under your palm feels less guarded, perhaps nothing shifts except that you spend ninety seconds attending to your own body. Every one of those outcomes fits the honest scope of self-acupressure. What does not fit is escalation — pressing harder, longer, or deeper to force a result. When curiosity pulls that way, return to gentleness or simply stop for the day. The rabbit, remember, is meant to stay crouched and calm; the practice succeeds when everything settles, not when something is conquered.
Cautions and Safe Practice
This point carries a written warning in the licensed record, and it deserves first position in any safety discussion. The dataset states it plainly: do not apply moxibustion, as clearly recorded in classical literature. Moxibustion is the traditional practice of warming an acupoint with smoldering mugwort, a heat therapy belonging to professional East Asian medicine and, sometimes, to home routines. At this address the classical literature declines it outright. The surviving sources record the rule without a single agreed reason attached, and the honest course is to leave the rule standing rather than paper over it with guesswork. Home self-acupressure as practiced on this page involves no moxibustion at all — but readers who do use moxa or other heat devices at home should skip Futu entirely and put the question to a qualified practitioner before bringing any heat near this point.
For fingertip and palm work, the practical rules follow from ordinary care of a large muscle. Keep pressure light to moderate and strictly superficial; use finger pads or the palm, never elbows, knuckles, or tools, and never press through pain. Skip the point over broken, irritated, or inflamed skin. After any recent injury, surgery, or injection in the thigh or hip, wait until a clinician clears ordinary activity before adding point pressure. Stop at once on sharp, electric, or radiating sensation, and do not try again that day. Take a conservative view of anything unusual: new and unexplained swelling, warmth, redness, or pain in a leg belongs with prompt medical assessment, not a pressure routine. Pregnant readers, and anyone living with a chronic condition affecting the legs, should consult a qualified practitioner before adding any new point practice.
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 sudden weakness or numbness in a leg, for low back trouble accompanied by spreading numbness or fading leg strength, for any symptom that frightens you, and for anything that persists or worsens despite sensible rest. Persistent symptoms belong with a licensed practitioner, whether medical or East Asian medical as suits the complaint. The crouching-rabbit imagery is charming, but the safest gift Futu offers most people is a better acquaintance with their own legs — attended to kindly, pressed lightly, and never forced.
Futu, the Crouching Rabbit, rests on the thick front of the thigh, six cun above the kneecap, on the stomach channel’s long descent toward the toes. Classical practice reached for it amid weak or heavy legs, sore lower backs, and the other troubles recorded under its name. This guide walks through finding it by touch and pressing it gently at home.
Cautions from the classical sources
- No moxibustion — the classical texts are explicit on this.
Self-care limits
Frequently asked
- How do I find Futu without knowing anything about cun?
- Use your own thumb as the ruler and the kneecap as the starting line. Find the upper rim of the kneecap, lay your thumb on it pointing up the front of the thigh, and walk it upward six snug widths onto the firm bulge of muscle. Keep the count on the front of the limb, along the line toward the bony point at the front of your hip. That bulge, six thumb-widths above the knee, is the location the dataset describes. Cun measurements simply encode the same landmark sequence in proportional language.
- Is pressing Futu myself actually safe?
- Gentle fingertip or palm pressure on a large thigh muscle is generally reasonable self-care for healthy adults — the ground is thick, well-padded muscle over solid bone, without the delicate structures that make chest points cautious territory. The recorded danger concerns moxibustion, a heat therapy that self-acupressure never involves; honour the record by leaving heat applications here aside, and discussing them with a practitioner first if you use them at home. Respect the stop signals: sharp pain, radiating sensation, or discomfort that worsens all mean finish immediately.
- What did classical practice use Futu for?
- The traditional record lists atrophy and paralysis of the lower limb, lumbar pain, cold numb knees, hernia, beriberi, and urticaria. The leg-centred entries fit a point sitting on the thigh’s main working muscle along the stomach channel’s descent toward the toes; the others belong to wider classical categories whose scope differs from modern usage. Those are traditional frameworks for understanding the body, documented for context — not evidence-backed treatment claims.
- Why does the record forbid moxibustion at Futu?
- The short answer is that classical literature says so plainly, and the licensed dataset passes the prohibition on faithfully. The longer answer is that the surviving sources do not attach one agreed explanation to the rule, and this guide will not invent one. Treat it the way you would treat a closed-trail sign: the original reasoning may be lost, but the instruction stands. Anyone who practises moxibustion at home should skip this point altogether and put the question to a qualified practitioner.
- Can acupressure at Futu replace seeing a doctor about leg weakness?
- No. Self-acupressure is a comfort practice, not a diagnostic tool, and leg symptoms carry real stakes: sudden weakness, spreading numbness, unexplained swelling, or back pain with leg symptoms all need professional assessment promptly, whatever a daily routine might seem to offer. Think of the two as different floors of the same building: daily self-care lives downstairs, and clinical medicine keeps the consulting room upstairs that you visit 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 ST32 Futu — 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/st32/leaf.json
- GET /zh-hant/points/st32/leaf.json
- GET /zh-cn/points/st32/leaf.json
- /llms.txt — the index of every leaf
- JSON-LD in the page: MedicalWebPage, MedicalEntity and FAQPage
{
"id": "ST32",
"name": {
"en": "Futu",
"gloss": "Crouching Rabbit",
"zh-Hant": "伏兔",
"zh-Hans": "伏兔"
},
"channel": {
"id": "ST",
"order": 32,
"of": 45
},
"location": {
"text": "On the bulge of the front thigh muscle, eight finger-widths above the outer top corner of the kneecap."
},
"for": [
"weak legs",
"low-back ache",
"cold",
"numb knees"
],
"press": {
"text": "Firm thumb pressure, about a minute each leg.",
"seconds": 60,
"sides": "both"
},
"cautions": [],
"source": "Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing, book 3",
"url": "https://acupoints.com/en/points/st32",
"lastReviewed": "2026-08-24"
}