Lianquan

What is CV23?

CV23 (Lianquan) is a Conception Vessel point on the front of the throat, in the soft hollow just above the hyoid bone, below the chin.

The Conception Vessel runs up the midline of the front of the body. CV23 is the second-to-last point on that line, sitting between the chin and the Adam's apple. Its pinyin name, Lianquan, is usually translated as "corner spring" or "ridge spring", a reference to saliva and the tongue.

In classical Chinese medicine CV23 is the throat-and-tongue point. Texts link it to a stiff or swollen tongue, drooling, sudden loss of voice, and food that will not go down. Modern acupuncture curricula still teach it this way, and it appears in almost every published protocol for swallowing problems after a stroke.

Two things are worth saying once, clearly, at the start. A long tradition behind a point is not evidence that pressing it works, and it is not evidence that pressing it is safe. CV23 is a good example of why both halves of that sentence matter: it sits over the airway, so the safety question is real and specific rather than a formality.

The honest verdict on the evidence: there is a body of acupuncture research in which CV23 is needled as part of a multi-point protocol for swallowing difficulty after stroke, and the pooled results look positive, but the individual trials are small, rarely blinded and generally judged to be at high risk of bias. None of them isolate CV23 from the other points used. For self-applied finger pressure on CV23, there is essentially no controlled human research at all.

That does not make the point useless to know about. It means you should treat CV23 as a gentle comfort measure you can try for throat tightness or a dry mouth, not as a treatment for a swallowing or speech problem. New trouble with swallowing or speaking needs a doctor, not a fingertip.

Where is CV23 and how do you find it?

CV23 sits on the midline of the throat, in the soft dip just above the hyoid bone, the small bone that rides upward when you swallow.

• Sit up and tilt your chin slightly. Lift your chin a little, just enough to put a gentle stretch on the front of the neck. Do not throw your head right back.
• Find the Adam's apple first. Run a fingertip down the midline of your throat. The firm ridge of cartilage you meet is the laryngeal prominence, or Adam's apple, and it is clearer in men than in women.
• Move up to the hyoid bone. Slide your finger upward from that ridge. You will cross a small gap and then feel a slim, U-shaped bone lying across the midline. Swallow once with your finger there; the hyoid bone pops up and then drops back. That movement confirms you are in the right place.
• Settle into the hollow above it. CV23 is in the soft depression on the midline immediately above the upper border of that bone, roughly a thumb-width above the top of the Adam's apple and about midway between the point of your chin and the Adam's apple.
• Check you are on the midline. The spot should feel soft and slightly yielding. If you feel a pulse under your finger, you have drifted sideways onto the neck vessels; come back to the centre line.

Classical texts place CV23 one cun above the upper edge of the thyroid cartilage, which is about one thumb-width, or roughly 2 to 2.5 cm on most adults. Measure with your own thumb rather than a ruler, since body sizes differ.

Do not confuse CV23 with CV22, which lies much lower, in the soft notch at the very top of the breastbone between the collarbones. CV23 is above the Adam's apple; CV22 is below it. This page is about CV23 only, and nothing here involves needles or skin-breaking of any kind.

How do you apply pressure to CV23?

1. Sit upright, never lying flat. Sit in a chair with your back supported and your feet on the floor. Lying down while pressing the front of the throat makes coughing and gagging more likely.
2. Use one fingertip only. Place the pad of your index or middle finger on the hollow above the hyoid bone. Keep your nail short. Never use a thumb from each side, and never wrap a hand around the neck.
3. Press very lightly. Use the lightest pressure that you can still feel, roughly what it takes to dimple the skin on your cheek. The throat is not a place for firm pressure. If it feels like effort, you are pressing too hard.
4. Hold briefly. Hold a steady, gentle contact for 5 to 10 seconds, breathing normally through your nose, then release. Small, slow circles are an alternative to a static hold.
5. Keep sessions short. Three to five repetitions is enough for one session, taking perhaps one minute in total. One or two short sessions a day is plenty.
6. Swallow between repetitions. Let your throat move and reset. If swallowing feels blocked or painful, stop and arrange to be seen.
7. Stop immediately if anything changes. Release at once if you cough, gag, feel breathless, feel lightheaded, notice your voice change, or feel your heart slow or flutter.

Do not press CV23 while eating, drinking, chewing gum or talking. Do not combine it with a tight collar, a scarf pulled snug, or anything else that adds pressure to the neck.

Finger pressure is the only method covered here. Do not use massage guns, hard tools, suction devices, heat packs or anything that breaks the skin on this area. If you are curious about needling, that is a decision for a licensed practitioner and not something to attempt on yourself.

If a session leaves your throat sore, skip it for several days. Soreness after light pressure means the pressure was not light.

What is CV23 traditionally used for?

• Difficulty swallowing. This is CV23's headline traditional use, and it is the point's main role in modern stroke protocols. Human trials exist, but they needle CV23 alongside several other points, are small and rarely blinded, and are mostly judged low quality. Nothing tests finger pressure here.
• Tongue stiffness and slurred speech. Classical texts describe CV23 for a heavy, stiff or swollen tongue and for speech that will not form. Evidence is limited to the same mixed needling research on stroke recovery, which cannot separate out this point's contribution.
• Sudden loss of voice or hoarseness. Tradition uses CV23 for a voice that drops away after a shout, a cold or a shock. There is no controlled human research on acupressure for this. Gentle contact may feel soothing, which is not the same as restoring the voice.
• Drooling and excess saliva. The name Lianquan refers to a "spring" of saliva, and texts list both drooling and dry mouth. A small amount of acupuncture research has looked at dry mouth after cancer treatment, with mixed results and usually several points at once.
• Throat tightness and the globus sensation. Many people use CV23 for the feeling of a lump in the throat when nothing is actually there. Evidence is anecdotal. Any benefit may come from slowing down, breathing out and releasing jaw and neck tension rather than from the point itself.
• Dry, tickly cough. Listed in some traditional sources for throat irritation and cough. No usable human trials support acupressure here.

Across every item on this list, the honest summary is the same: a long traditional record, a thin and low-quality modern record, and no acupressure-specific research. Treat CV23 as comfort, not treatment, and keep anything new or worsening in front of a clinician.

Are there tips for using CV23 effectively?

• Lighter than you think. The most common correction people need on CV23 is less pressure. Aim for contact rather than push. Firm pressure on the throat causes coughing and does not improve the result.
• Confirm with a swallow. Before you press, rest a finger on the spot and swallow. Feeling the hyoid bone lift and settle tells you that you are on the midline hollow and not on cartilage.
• Breathe out as you press. A slow exhale relaxes the jaw, tongue and neck muscles, and it makes it far less likely that you will gag.
• Add it to speech or swallow therapy, never instead of it. If a therapist has given you exercises after a stroke or surgery, do those first. Mention to them that you are trying CV23 so your whole plan is in one place.
• Loosen your collar first. Undo a top button, move a necklace, take off a scarf. Anything already pressing on the neck should come off before you add a fingertip.
• Keep sessions short and spaced. One minute, once or twice a day, works better than long sessions. The throat tolerates brief gentle contact far better than sustained pressure.
• Keep a simple note. Write down the date, what you noticed, and for how long. Over two weeks this shows you whether anything is actually changing, which guesswork will not.
• Try CV23 when you are calm. Pressing the throat while anxious or rushed tends to trigger a gag or a cough. A settled few minutes gives a fairer trial.
• Stop for two weeks if nothing changes. If a fortnight of honest use makes no difference, it is probably not going to. That is useful information, not a failure.

None of these tips will make CV23 do more than it can. They just reduce the chance of discomfort and help you judge the point fairly.

What do people get wrong with CV23?

• Expecting a cure. The biggest error. Finger pressure on CV23 will not fix a swallowing disorder, restore speech after a stroke, or clear a voice problem. Going in expecting that leads people to delay care that actually helps.
• Pressing far too hard. The throat is soft and the windpipe sits right there. Heavy pressure causes coughing, gagging and soreness, and it can make you feel faint. Light contact is the whole technique.
• Drifting onto the side of the neck. Slipping sideways lands you over the big neck vessels, where you may feel a pulse. That is the wrong place and the pressure there is genuinely unsafe. Stay on the midline and never press both sides together.
• Mixing CV23 up with CV22. CV22 is the hollow at the top of the breastbone, between the collarbones. CV23 is high up, above the Adam's apple. Videos often blur the two.
• Landing on the Adam's apple itself. Pressing hard cartilage instead of the soft dip above the hyoid bone is uncomfortable and achieves nothing.
• Using it during a choking or breathing emergency. No acupressure point belongs in that moment. Call emergency services and use first aid you have been trained in.
• Pressing it on someone else. Especially a child, a sleeping person, or anyone who cannot clearly say stop. You cannot feel their throat, their gag reflex or their discomfort.
• Ignoring a new symptom. Treating fresh hoarseness, a new lump, or food sticking as a point to press rather than a reason to be examined. These can signal conditions that need prompt assessment.
• Overdoing frequency. Ten sessions a day will not speed anything up. It just makes the throat sore and tender.

What does the research on CV23 actually say?

CV23 appears most often in acupuncture research on swallowing difficulty after stroke, which doctors call post-stroke dysphagia. Numerous randomised trials, the great majority conducted in China, have tested needling protocols that include CV23 alongside points such as Fengchi and tongue-region points, usually added to standard swallowing rehabilitation.

Systematic reviews that pool these trials generally report better swallowing scores in the acupuncture groups. The reviewers themselves, however, repeatedly flag serious problems: small sample sizes, unclear randomisation, almost no blinding of participants or assessors, short follow-up, and a strong tendency for positive results to be published. Several reviews conclude that the certainty of the evidence is low or very low, and that firmer trials are needed before the finding can be trusted.

Two further limits matter for a reader of this page. First, every one of these studies needles multiple points together, so none of them can tell you what CV23 contributes on its own. Second, they are needling studies. Inserting a needle and resting a fingertip on the skin are different interventions, and a result from one does not transfer to the other.

For self-applied acupressure on CV23 specifically, we found no controlled human trials worth reporting. There is no good acupressure evidence for hoarseness, tongue stiffness, drooling, dry mouth or the globus sensation at this point. What exists is tradition, practitioner experience and personal anecdote.

What that means in practice: CV23 is reasonable to try as a gentle, short, low-risk comfort measure if your throat is tight and nothing on the safety list applies to you. It is not a reason to delay a swallowing assessment, a speech and language therapy referral, or an examination of a hoarse voice that has lasted more than three weeks. If anyone tells you CV23 treats dysphagia, they are describing tradition and weak needling data, not proof.