Bladder Channel

Name

The main Bladder Channel is the Bladder Greater Yang of the foot. It is the channel with the most acupuncture points. It contains the Back-Shu points, which tonify vital energy.

Pathway

From SI-18 there is a small branch towards the inner angle of the eye that communicates with the Bladder. The Bladder Channel begins at the inner canthus of the eye BL-1, ascends along the forehead, connects with GV-24 (0.5 cun behind the beginning of the hairline) and rises along the head 1.5 cun lateral to the Governing Vessel towards the vertex, where it connects with GV-20.

At GV-20 two branches of the main pathway separate:

One directs to the upper part of the ear pavilion and crosses with the Gall Bladder Channel and unites with the points GB-7,GB-8,GB-9,GB-10,GB-11,GB-12.
The other penetrates into the interior of the head, reaches the brain and re-exteriorizes at GV-17 behind the head, at the occipital area.

From GV-20 the main pathway of the channel continues along the head, lateral to the Governing Vessel and descends along the nape at its point BL-10 over the trapezius.

From BL-10 the main pathway bifurcates into two lines.

First Bladder line

Treats energy with the Back-Shu points.

Communicates with GV-13 and GV-14. From D1 descends vertically parallel to the spine, 1.5 cun lateral to the Governing Vessel. At the level of L2, at BL-23, a branch interiorizes and goes to the Kidney, establishing the Interior-Exterior relationship, and reaches the Bladder. The pathway of the main channel continues descending 1.5 cun lateral to the Governing Vessel until at the level of L4, at which point it rises again and descends through the sacral foramina. It reaches the side of the coccyx at the point BL-35, passes through the buttocks, the gluteal fold, and descends along the posterior surface of the thigh to the center of the popliteal fossa at BL-40.

Second Bladder line

Treats psycho-emotional aspects.

From BL-10 it directs towards the inner border of the scapula spine, to the point BL-41, at the level of the second thoracic vertebra (D2). From here it follows a pathway parallel to the first Bladder line but at a distance of 3 cun lateral to the Governing Vessel. It descends to the buttock, continues along the thigh and reaches the popliteal fossa at the point BL-40 where it unites with the first Bladder line.

Once the two lines unite, from BL-40 it descends along the posterior aspect of the leg, between the two bellies of the gastrocnemius (BL-57). It lateralizes slightly and descends between the Achilles tendon and the fibula. It passes behind the lateral malleolus and continues along the lateral side of the foot, along the edge of the fifth metatarsal and ends at BL-67, a point located at the lateral ungual angle of the little toe.