Huiyang

What is BL35?

BL35 (Huiyang) is a Bladder channel point on the buttock, about half a thumb-width to the side of the tip of the tailbone.

Its Chinese name, Huiyang, is usually translated as "Meeting of Yang". In classical texts it is grouped with the points of the lower back and tailbone, and it was used for complaints of the anal and genital region: haemorrhoids, diarrhoea, discharge, itching and aching at the base of the spine. It sits near the end of the long Bladder channel, which runs down the back and the back of the leg.

Two things are worth saying once, clearly, at the start. A point's long history in tradition is not evidence that it produces an effect, and it is not evidence that pressing it is safe for you. Both have to be checked separately, and this page tries to do that.

The honest verdict on the evidence: there is essentially no human research testing BL35 on its own. It occasionally appears inside multi-point acupuncture formulas in studies of haemorrhoids or anorectal pain, but those studies cannot tell us what any single point did. Acupressure research in general is small, short-term and rarely blinded, so even the better results are tentative.

This is a self-help finger-pressure page. Everything described here is pressure applied with a fingertip or thumb pad through the skin. Nothing on this site involves needles, heat therapy such as moxibustion, cupping or anything that breaks the skin. If you read that a trial needled BL35, that is a report of what researchers did — not an instruction for you.

BL35 also sits in a private, delicate area close to the anus and tailbone. That makes it one of the points where comfort, consent and basic hygiene matter as much as technique. Many people will reasonably decide it is not a point they want to work on themselves, and that is a perfectly sensible choice.

Where is BL35 and how do you find it?

BL35 sits roughly 0.5 cun (about half a thumb-width, or 1 cm) to either side of the midline, level with the tip of the tailbone, just beside the buttock cleft.

• Find your tailbone first. Sit or lie on your side and trace a finger down the midline of your lower back. The bony ridge of the sacrum ends in a small, slightly movable tip — that is the coccyx, or tailbone.
• Stop at the tip. BL35 is level with the very end of that tip, not above it on the flat sacral bone and not below it.
• Move sideways, not down. From the midline, slide about half a thumb-width out to one side. You land in the soft tissue just lateral to the groove between the buttocks, not on bone.
• Check the feel. The spot should feel soft and fleshy. If your finger is on something hard and bony, you have drifted back toward the midline or too far up.
• It is paired. There is a BL35 on the left and one on the right, mirroring each other across the midline.

A side-lying position with the knees drawn up is usually the easiest and most dignified way to reach it on yourself. Reaching behind while standing works too, but the wrist angle is awkward and people often end up pressing a few centimetres off target.

Point books vary slightly on how far laterally BL35 sits, and because the area is soft there is no sharp landmark to confirm it. What all sources agree on is the vertical level: the tip of the coccyx. If you are unsure, stay conservative — keep your finger close to that level, in soft tissue, and use gentle pressure rather than hunting hard for a "sore spot".

Do not try to locate BL35 by probing inside the buttock cleft or near the anus itself. The point is beside that groove, on the skin surface.

How do you apply pressure to BL35?

1. Wash your hands. This point is close to the anus, so clean hands and short nails are not optional. Wash again afterwards.
2. Get into position. Lie on your side with knees bent toward your chest. This opens the area and lets your arm reach behind without straining your shoulder.
3. Locate the spot. Find the tip of your tailbone, then move about half a thumb-width to one side into soft tissue.
4. Press with a flat fingertip. Use the pad of your thumb or middle finger. Press straight in toward the body, not sideways into the cleft.
5. Keep it moderate. Aim for firm but comfortable — around 3 or 4 out of 10. You should feel dull pressure, never sharp pain.
6. Hold or circle. Hold steady for 30 to 60 seconds, or make small slow circles. Breathe normally and let your buttock muscles relax.
7. Do both sides. Treat the left and right points for a similar length of time.
8. Repeat sparingly. One to three short sessions a day is plenty. Give the skin a rest if it looks red or feels tender.

Stop immediately if you feel sharp pain, burning, numbness, pins and needles running into the leg, or any bleeding. Stop also if pressing makes an existing haemorrhoid or tailbone pain worse rather than easier — more pressure is not the answer there.

Do not press through clothing seams, a wallet in a back pocket, or anything that concentrates pressure on one small area. Skin here is thin and bruises easily.

If someone else applies pressure for you, they need your explicit consent, a private setting and a clear agreement that you can stop it at any moment. Never apply this point to a child or to anyone who cannot clearly consent.

What is BL35 traditionally used for?

• Haemorrhoids. This is the classical headline use for BL35, which is why it appears in old formulas for anal complaints. Human evidence testing acupressure at BL35 for haemorrhoids is absent; the point sometimes appears inside acupuncture formulas in studies, but no trial isolates it. Fibre, fluids, not straining and a doctor's review remain the things with actual support.
• Tailbone and lower buttock ache. Tradition used BL35 for pain around the coccyx and sacrum. Gentle pressure on tight tissue near a sore area can feel soothing in the moment, and that is a plausible local effect — but it has not been tested for this point, and persistent coccyx pain needs a cause identified rather than massaged.
• Diarrhoea and bowel upset. Classical texts list BL35 for loose stools and abdominal discomfort. There is no controlled human research supporting acupressure here for that, and diarrhoea lasting more than a couple of days, or with blood or fever, is a medical matter.
• Genital itching and discharge. Older sources include these in the point's remit. Modern medicine identifies causes such as infection, skin conditions or irritants, all of which need diagnosis. Pressing BL35 will not treat any of them.
• Sexual difficulties. Some texts list impotence among BL35's uses. There is no human evidence for this, and erectile problems can be an early sign of heart or circulation disease, which makes a check-up the useful step.

Across all of these, the pattern is the same: a long traditional record and almost no modern testing of this specific point. Acupressure trials in general are small, brief and rarely blinded, so even where results exist elsewhere, they are weak. Treat BL35 as a comfort measure you may or may not find pleasant, and never as a replacement for a diagnosis. No acupressure point cures haemorrhoids or bowel disease.

Are there tips for using BL35 effectively?

• Warm the area first. A warm shower or a few minutes with a covered heat pack relaxes the tissue, so lighter pressure goes further and hurts less.
• Side-lying beats standing. Curling onto your side with knees bent gives a better angle and stops you twisting your shoulder to reach behind.
• Press toward the body, not into the cleft. The direction of pressure should be straight inward on soft tissue beside the groove, which keeps you off the tailbone and away from sensitive skin.
• Short and regular beats long and hard. Thirty to sixty seconds a side, once or twice a day, is more sustainable than one grinding session that leaves you bruised.
• Keep hygiene simple. Clean hands before, clean hands after, nails trimmed. Skip it entirely if you have a skin infection anywhere on your hands.
• Do the boring things too. For haemorrhoids and constipation, more fibre, more water, not straining and not sitting for long stretches on the toilet are the measures with real support. Treat BL35 as an optional extra.
• Protect your privacy. Use a room where you will not be interrupted. Feeling rushed or exposed makes the whole thing tense and pointless.
• Write down what happens. Note the date, how long you pressed and how you felt over the next few hours. A fortnight of notes tells you far more than a vague impression.
• Give it a fair but limited trial. If a couple of weeks of sensible use changes nothing, accept that and stop rather than pressing harder.
• Ask before you touch someone else. If a partner helps, agree beforehand on pressure, duration and a word that stops it immediately.

One honest caveat: none of these tips make the point work better in a tested sense, because the testing has not been done. They make the practice safer, more comfortable and easier to judge for yourself.

What do people get wrong with BL35?

• Expecting a cure. The commonest error is hoping BL35 will clear haemorrhoids or bowel trouble. No acupressure point does that, and a few minutes of finger pressure cannot undo the pressure and straining that caused the problem.
• Pressing on bone. Landing on the hard tip of the coccyx instead of the soft tissue just beside it. It hurts, it bruises, and it is not the point.
• Aiming too high. Drifting up onto the flat sacrum and the dimples above it puts you at different points entirely. BL35 is level with the tailbone tip, not above it.
• Going too deep into the cleft. The point is beside the groove, on the surface. Probing inward toward the anus is both wrong and a route to irritation.
• Ignoring rectal bleeding. Treating blood in the stool or on the paper as "just piles" and self-managing it. Bleeding needs a doctor's assessment, because other causes look identical at home.
• Overdoing the pressure. Skin here is thin and the tissue is tender. Hard digging produces bruises and soreness, not better results.
• Working through a flare. Pressing directly on a swollen, hot or thrombosed (clotted) haemorrhoid makes it worse. Leave the area alone and get it looked at.
• Skipping hygiene. Dirty hands or long nails near this area invite skin infection. It is a small step that genuinely matters.
• Delaying a diagnosis. Spending weeks on a pressure point while a change in bowel habit, weight loss or ongoing pain goes unexamined is the costliest mistake on this list.
• Trying to copy needling. Some people watch a clinical video and try to mimic what a practitioner did. Nothing here involves needles, heat therapy or anything that breaks skin; finger pressure is the whole method.

What does the research on BL35 actually say?

There is no useful human research on BL35 as a standalone treatment. Searching the acupuncture and acupressure literature turns up no controlled trial that tested pressure at this point by itself for haemorrhoids, tailbone pain, diarrhoea or any other condition.

What does exist is indirect. BL35 is occasionally listed among several points used together in acupuncture studies of anorectal conditions, pelvic pain and post-surgical discomfort. Those studies needle multiple points at once, which is a normal way to practise but a poor way to learn what one point contributes. Even where such a study reports benefit, nothing in its design allows the result to be attributed to BL35.

The wider acupressure evidence base sets the context. Most trials enrol a few dozen people, run for days or weeks, and cannot blind participants to whether they are being pressed. Expectation and attention both move symptom scores on their own, which is why acupressure results are generally considered weak and provisional. The clearest exception in the whole field is PC6 for nausea, where repeated controlled trials do support a real effect. BL35 is nowhere near that standard.

So what does this mean for you? It means that if you press BL35 and feel better, you cannot tell from the research whether the point did it, whether the warmth and attention did it, or whether the problem was settling anyway. That is not a reason to feel foolish for trying a gentle, low-cost comfort measure. It is a reason not to rely on it, not to spend money on courses promising results, and not to postpone a medical opinion because of it.

Be especially wary of any source citing a specific trial on BL35 with impressive numbers. We could not identify such a trial, and claims of this kind are often recycled without a real source behind them.