Qugu

What is CV2?

CV2 (Qugu) is a Conception Vessel point on the midline of the lower abdomen, right at the top edge of the pubic bone.

Its Chinese name, Qugu, means "curved bone", which is the old name for the pubic bone it sits on. The Conception Vessel runs up the front midline of the body, and classical texts group CV2 with the neighbouring lower-abdomen points used for the bladder, the uterus and the genitals.

In traditional theory CV2 is described as a point for urinary difficulty, dribbling or leaking urine, period pain and irregular periods, and problems with sexual function. That is what the tradition claims. It is not a description of what the point has been shown to do.

Two things are worth being clear about before you read any further. First, a long tradition behind a point is not evidence that pressing it works. Second, a long tradition is not evidence that it is safe, either; safety has to be judged separately, from anatomy and from who you are. Those two points apply to this whole page, and we will not repeat them in every section.

The honest verdict on the evidence: there is essentially no controlled human research on finger pressure at CV2 for anything. The point turns up occasionally inside multi-point needling protocols for urinary retention and incontinence, never on its own, so nothing in that work can be attributed to CV2 specifically.

CV2 also carries one hard safety rule that outranks everything else on this page. It is on the standard list of points that every teaching tradition tells practitioners to avoid during pregnancy, and it sits directly over the lower uterus. Do not press CV2 if you are pregnant or think you might be. If you have heard it mentioned in connection with labour, that is a decision for a midwife or doctor, not something to try at home.

Treat CV2 as a comfort practice at most: gentle, brief, over a private area of your own body, and no substitute for getting urinary or pelvic symptoms properly looked at.

Where is CV2 and how do you find it?

CV2 sits on the body's front midline, at the upper border of the pubic bone, about five thumb-widths below the navel.

• Start at the navel. Put one fingertip in your belly button and keep it on the midline, the imaginary vertical line that splits your body into left and right halves.
• Slide straight down. Move your finger down the midline towards the pubic area. The classical measurement is 5 cun below the navel, which for most adults is roughly five thumb-widths, or about 11 to 13 centimetres.
• Feel for the hard ridge. Low down in the front of the pelvis you will meet a firm bony bar running side to side. That is the pubic bone, and in the middle is the pubic symphysis, the joint where its two halves meet.
• Settle on the top edge. CV2 is on the midline at the upper border of that bone, in the soft dip just above the bone rather than on it. If your finger is on hard bone, you have gone slightly too low.
• Check you are centred. It should feel symmetrical. If the ridge feels closer on one side, you have drifted off the midline.

Landmark honestly: everyone agrees CV2 is midline and at the superior border of the pubic symphysis. Body proportions vary, so use the bone as your anchor and the navel measurement only as a rough check.

Do not confuse CV2 with the points just above it. CV3 is about one thumb-width higher, and CV4 about two thumb-widths higher. They are different points with different traditional indications.

This is a private area with pubic hair in most adults, and it is very close to the bladder. Find it with clean hands, in private, and over light clothing if you prefer. Never go looking for it on someone else without clear consent, and never on a child.

How do you apply pressure to CV2?

Finger pressure only. Nothing on this page involves needles, heat or anything that breaks the skin.

1. Check the rule first. If you are pregnant or might be, stop here and skip this point entirely.
2. Empty your bladder. Pressing just above a full bladder is uncomfortable and can make you feel an urgent need to go. Use the toilet first.
3. Get comfortable. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat, or sit and lean back slightly. The lower belly should be soft, not braced.
4. Place two fingers flat. Use the pads of your index and middle fingers on the midline, in the soft dip just above the top edge of the pubic bone. Keep fingernails short and hands clean.
5. Press lightly inwards and slightly downwards. Aim for a pressure you would score about 3 or 4 out of 10: noticeable, slightly dull, never sharp. This area is thin and sensitive, so less is genuinely better.
6. Hold and breathe. Keep steady pressure for 30 to 60 seconds while you breathe slowly, then ease off over a couple of seconds rather than lifting suddenly.
7. Repeat sparingly. Two or three holds in a session, once or twice a day, is plenty. There is no benefit known from doing more.

Stop straight away if you feel sharp pain, a burning or stinging feeling, a sudden urge you cannot control, dizziness, or any pain that spreads into the groin or down a leg. Stop also if you feel a soft bulge under your fingers, which can be a hernia and needs a doctor rather than pressure.

Do not use hard tools, knuckles, elbows or massage gadgets here. There is very little tissue between your fingertip and the bladder and pelvic organs, and firm poking adds risk without adding benefit. If a few sessions change nothing, that is useful information: stop and get the underlying symptom assessed.

What is CV2 traditionally used for?

• Difficulty passing urine. Classical texts list CV2 for urinary retention and dribbling, and it appears in modern Chinese medicine texts for post-operative retention. Human evidence is limited to small needling studies that used CV2 alongside several other points, so nothing can be credited to CV2 itself. Being unable to pass urine at all is a medical emergency, not a pressure-point problem.
• Leaking urine. Tradition uses CV2 for incontinence and bed-wetting. Acupuncture trials for urinary incontinence in women exist and some are reasonably well designed, but the best known of them needled points on the lower back and sacrum rather than CV2. There is no trial of finger pressure at CV2 for leaking.
• Period pain and irregular periods. The lower midline points are a standard traditional choice for menstrual complaints. Acupressure for period pain has been studied, mostly with small, unblinded trials and usually at SP6 or other leg points, with modest short-term results. CV2 specifically has not been tested.
• Sexual function complaints. Older texts list CV2 for impotence and loss of libido. There is no credible human evidence for acupressure here, and these symptoms often have treatable medical causes such as diabetes, blood pressure medication or hormonal problems.
• Lower abdominal tension and discomfort. Gentle pressure on a soft lower belly, combined with slow breathing, can feel calming for some people. That effect is non-specific, short-lived, and probably has little to do with the exact point chosen.

In short, CV2 carries a wide traditional remit and almost no direct human evidence. Where symptoms are persistent, painful, bloody or new, the useful step is a diagnosis, not more pressure.

Are there tips for using CV2 effectively?

• Use the bone, not the tape measure. The top edge of the pubic bone is easy to feel and does not change with body shape. Trust that landmark over counting thumb-widths down from the navel.
• Keep the pressure light. This is a thin, sensitive area over the bladder. Firm pressure does not work better here; it just hurts and makes you want to urinate.
• Go after the toilet, not before. Pressing just above a full bladder is the single most common reason people find CV2 unpleasant.
• Warm hands help. Cold fingertips on the lower belly make the muscles tense up, which makes the point harder to find and the hold less comfortable.
• Breathe out as you press. Letting the belly soften on the out-breath lets your fingers settle without you having to push harder.
• Keep a simple log. Note the symptom score before and after, for a week or two. If nothing shifts, you have your answer and can stop.
• About labour. You may see CV2 listed among points linked to labour and childbirth. Whether any point work is appropriate around labour is a decision for your midwife or doctor, based on your pregnancy. It is never something to try on yourself or on a pregnant person at home.
• Pair it with the boring things that work. For bladder symptoms, that means fluid timing, pelvic floor exercises taught properly, and a GP review of medications. Acupressure at best sits alongside those.
• Respect privacy and consent. This point is in an intimate area. Apply it to yourself, in private, and never to another adult without explicit permission or to a child at all.

What do people get wrong with CV2?

• Using it in pregnancy. Do not press CV2 if you are pregnant or think you might be. Every teaching tradition puts this point on the avoid-in-pregnancy list, and it sits directly over the lower uterus. There is no safe light version of it while pregnant.
• Expecting a cure. No acupressure point cures urinary retention, incontinence, period problems or sexual dysfunction. Anyone promising that is selling something. At best you may get a brief, mild change in how a symptom feels.
• Pressing on the bone. People often slide too low and push on the hard pubic bone, which is sore and pointless. CV2 is in the soft dip just above that ridge.
• Drifting off the midline. A finger an inch to one side is no longer on the Conception Vessel at all. Check that the bony ridge feels the same distance away on both sides.
• Mistaking it for CV3 or CV4. Those points sit one and two thumb-widths higher. If you are following a video, make sure it is actually showing CV2.
• Pressing hard to force urination. If you genuinely cannot pass urine, pressing over a stretched bladder is unsafe and delays care. Acute retention needs urgent medical help the same day.
• Ignoring a bulge. A soft lump near the groin that comes and goes may be a hernia. Pressing it is not treatment; get it examined.
• Using tools or elbows. Gadgets, knuckles and body weight have no place on the lower abdomen. Fingertips only, and gently.
• Skipping the diagnosis. Blood in the urine, burning, fever, a new lump or pain that is getting worse all need a doctor. Self-pressure on CV2 is not a reason to wait and see.

What does the research on CV2 actually say?

There is essentially nothing on CV2 by itself. We found no controlled human trial that tested self-applied finger pressure on CV2 for any condition, and no trial that isolated CV2 from other points.

What does exist sits one step removed. Acupuncture has been studied for urinary retention after surgery or stroke, and for urinary incontinence in women. Those studies almost always needle several points together, typically lower abdominal and sacral points, and CV2 appears only as one name on a list. When a protocol uses six or eight points at once, no result can be attributed to any single one of them. Many of these trials are also small, run at one centre, and compare acupuncture with usual care rather than with a convincing sham, which makes expectation effects hard to rule out.

The better-known acupuncture work on urinary incontinence used electrical stimulation of points on the lower back and sacrum, not CV2. It is sometimes cited loosely as support for abdominal points. It is not.

Acupressure as a whole has a thin evidence base, with one clear exception: PC6 on the forearm has repeated controlled trials supporting a real, if modest, effect on nausea and vomiting. That is the strongest case in the field, and it is a useful yardstick. Nothing comparable exists for CV2.

What that means for you is simple. If you press CV2 and feel calmer or more comfortable for a while, that is a real experience, but it may come from lying down, breathing slowly, warmth and attention rather than from the point. If you have a urinary, menstrual or pelvic symptom that is new, painful, bloody or getting worse, no amount of pressure here substitutes for a diagnosis.

We would rather tell you the research is absent than dress up tradition as proof. If good trials on this point appear, this page will say so.