Jiquan

What is HT1?

HT1 (Jiquan) is the first point of the Heart channel, sitting deep in the centre of the armpit where an artery pulses.

Its Pinyin name, Jiquan, is usually translated as "Highest Spring" or "Summit Spring". The WHO Standard Acupuncture Point Locations place it in the armpit hollow (axillary fossa), over the axillary artery. It is the starting point of the Heart channel, which then runs down the inner arm to the little finger.

Classical texts link HT1 to pain or tightness in the chest, pain in the shoulder and inner arm, a dry throat, and swellings under the arm. It is taught in essentially every acupuncture curriculum, so its traditional standing is high.

The honest verdict on evidence: there is very little. No good controlled human trial has tested finger pressure on HT1 on its own for any condition. The point appears inside multi-point needling protocols for stroke rehabilitation in China, but those studies cannot tell you what HT1 contributed.

Two things are worth saying clearly, and this page will not repeat them in every section. First, a long tradition behind a point is not evidence that it works. Second, tradition is not evidence that it is safe either. HT1 is a good example of why that matters: the armpit holds a large artery, a dense bundle of nerves, and lymph nodes, all close to the surface. That makes it a genuinely sensitive spot rather than a neutral one.

For most readers, HT1 is best treated as a light, brief, curiosity-level point. It is not a substitute for assessment of chest pain, arm swelling, or any lump under the arm. If you want a pressure point with real human trial support behind it, PC6 for nausea is the strongest case in the literature — HT1 is not in that category.

Where is HT1 and how do you find it?

HT1 sits at the centre of the armpit hollow, at its deepest part, where you can feel a pulse beating against the chest wall.

• Raise the arm. Lift your arm out sideways, or rest that hand on top of your opposite shoulder. This opens the armpit and makes the hollow easy to reach.
• Find the two walls. With your other hand, feel the firm front fold of the armpit (the chest muscle) and the firm back fold (the back muscle). HT1 is not on either fold. It is in the soft space between them.
• Walk to the centre. Slide your fingertips up into that soft space until you reach the top of the hollow, close to where the arm joins the body.
• Feel for the pulse. Rest your fingerpads there very lightly. Most people can feel the axillary artery (the main artery to the arm) beating. That pulse marks HT1.
• Check you are not on bone. If you feel hard bone, you have drifted up and out toward the shoulder joint. Come back down into the soft centre.

Classical sources place HT1 at the centre of the axillary fossa, over the pulsing artery. There is no cun measurement to convert here, because the landmark is the hollow itself rather than a distance from another point. That makes HT1 one of the easier points to locate, and one of the easier ones to press too hard.

Most people find the point about a thumb-width inside the armpit's rim, at the deepest reach of a fingertip. It is often tender even in people with no symptoms, so tenderness alone does not confirm you are in the right spot.

Hair, deodorant residue and shaving irritation all sit directly over this point. Clean, unbroken skin makes it much easier to feel what is underneath and much safer to touch.

How do you apply pressure to HT1?

1. Set your position. Sit upright and rest the hand of the side you are working on top of your opposite shoulder. This opens the armpit without you having to hold your arm up.
2. Use the opposite hand. Reach across with the thumb or the pads of two fingers. Fingerpads give you more feedback than a thumb tip in this soft hollow.
3. Locate the pulse first. Rest your fingers in the centre of the armpit and feel for the beat. Then ease your contact slightly to one side of it rather than pressing straight down on it.
4. Press lightly. Use gentle pressure only — a level you would describe as a firm resting touch, not a dig. This area is nerve-rich, so less is genuinely more here.
5. Hold briefly. Hold for about 15 to 30 seconds, breathing normally. Then release fully for a few seconds.
6. Repeat sparingly. Two or three short holds per side is plenty for one session. Once or twice a day is a reasonable ceiling.
7. Add movement if you like. Some people prefer to hold light contact while slowly lowering and raising the arm, rather than pressing into a still armpit.

Finger pressure only. Nothing on this page involves needles, skin-breaking, burning herbs or cups. If you have read about a trial that needled Jiquan, that was a trained practitioner doing something quite different from what is described here.

Stop immediately if: your fingers or hand tingle, go numb, feel weak, or if the arm feels cold or pale. Those are signs you are compressing a nerve or an artery. Release, lower the arm, and let the sensation settle completely before deciding whether to try again more lightly.

Never press hard enough to flatten the pulse, and never hold pressure in the armpit for minutes at a time. Sharp or electric pain is a stop signal, not a sign the point is "working".

What is HT1 traditionally used for?

• Chest tightness and heart pain. As the first Heart channel point, HT1 was classically used for oppression or pain in the chest. There are no controlled human trials of acupressure at HT1 for angina or any cardiac symptom. New, severe or spreading chest pain is a medical emergency, not a pressure point problem.
• Shoulder and inner arm pain. Tradition uses HT1 for pain along the inner arm and difficulty raising the arm. Light pressure near tender armpit tissue may feel soothing for some people, but this has not been tested properly. Any relief reported is short-term and unmeasured.
• Post-stroke arm weakness. Jiquan appears as one of several needled points in Chinese stroke rehabilitation protocols. Those trials are mostly small, unblinded, and use many points at once, so no effect can be traced to HT1 specifically. Finger pressure has not been tested for this at all.
• Swellings under the arm. Classical texts mention HT1 for lumps and swellings in the armpit region. This is one claim where following tradition is actively risky. An unexplained armpit lump needs a doctor, not pressure.
• Dry throat and thirst. A recurring classical indication, with no modern human evidence behind it in either direction.
• Low mood and grief. Because the Heart channel is tied to the mind in traditional theory, HT1 is sometimes suggested for emotional heaviness. No trial has tested HT1 for mood. Any calming effect may simply come from sitting still and breathing for a minute.
• Numbness or coldness in the arm. Traditionally indicated, and untested. Persistent numbness in an arm should be assessed, because it can point to nerve compression or circulation problems.

In short, the traditional list for HT1 is long and the human evidence list is close to empty. That gap is the most important fact on this page.

Are there tips for using HT1 effectively?

• Open the armpit first. Resting your hand on the opposite shoulder gives you far better access than pressing with the arm hanging down. A closed armpit forces you to dig, which is exactly what you want to avoid.
• Find the pulse, then work beside it. Use the beating artery as your map rather than your target. Settling your fingers just to one side of it keeps you on the point without compressing the vessel.
• Go lighter than feels useful. Many people assume harder means more effective. In a nerve-rich hollow like this, heavy pressure mostly produces tingling and soreness that lasts longer than any benefit.
• Keep sessions short. Fifteen to thirty seconds at a time is enough. Long sustained holds in the armpit are not more thorough, just riskier.
• Check the skin before you start. Shaving rash, razor nicks, ingrown hairs and deodorant irritation are all common here. Wait until skin is intact before touching the area.
• Work both sides evenly. If you are using HT1 for shoulder or arm tension, treating both armpits gives you a useful comparison. A big difference between sides is worth mentioning to a clinician.
• Pair it with movement, not force. Slow arm circles or a gentle doorway chest stretch may do more for a tight shoulder than pressure alone, and they are easier to judge for safety.
• Keep a simple record. Note what you felt before and after, and for how long any change lasted. Self-applied techniques are easy to over-credit from memory.
• Give it a fair but limited trial. If a couple of weeks of use changes nothing, that is a real answer. Pressing harder or longer is not the next step.

What do people get wrong with HT1?

• Expecting a cure. HT1 will not fix a heart condition, a frozen shoulder or a swollen lymph node. Treating a traditional indication as a promised outcome is the single biggest error with this point.
• Using it for chest pain at home. Pressing an armpit while chest pain builds can delay emergency care. Chest pain that is new, severe, crushing, or spreading to jaw or arm means calling emergency services immediately.
• Pressing on the folds instead of the hollow. Landing on the firm front fold or the back fold of the armpit misses HT1 entirely. The point is in the soft centre between them.
• Digging in hard. The armpit holds a major artery and a bundle of nerves close to the surface. Heavy pressure here produces tingling, numbness and lingering soreness rather than better results.
• Holding for minutes at a time. Long sustained compression over an artery is not thorough technique. Short holds with full release are safer and no less reasonable.
• Pressing a lump. People sometimes find a swelling while looking for the point and massage it, hoping it will go down. An unexplained armpit lump needs a doctor's assessment, not pressure.
• Ignoring tingling in the hand. Pins and needles down the arm is a nerve signal to stop, not evidence the point is activating.
• Working on irritated skin. Shaving rash, razor cuts and deodorant reactions are extremely common in this exact spot and make pressure both painful and unwise.
• Assuming tenderness proves something. The armpit is tender in plenty of healthy people. A sore spot is not a diagnosis of a Heart channel problem.
• Copying needling videos. Clips showing a practitioner needling Jiquan are not instructions for home use. Everything here is finger pressure on intact skin.

What does the research on HT1 actually say?

There is no useful human research on finger pressure at HT1 for any condition. No controlled trial has isolated this point and measured what it does.

The closest thing to a research trail runs through stroke rehabilitation. Jiquan is one of the points included in a well-known Chinese needling protocol for hemiplegia (weakness on one side of the body after stroke), alongside several other arm and leg points. Trials of that protocol exist, mostly carried out in China and published in Chinese-language journals. They are generally small, often unblinded, and compare whole treatment packages rather than single points.

That design means they cannot tell you anything specific about HT1. If a group improves, the improvement could come from any of the points used, from the rehabilitation exercises running alongside, from the attention of a therapist, or from natural recovery after stroke. Those trials also used needles inserted by trained practitioners, which is not what this page describes.

For the headline traditional claims — chest oppression, heart pain, armpit swellings, dry throat — no controlled human trial of HT1 was found at all. That is not a claim that the point does nothing. It is a plain statement that the question has not been asked properly, so nobody knows.

It is worth comparing this with a point that does have real support. PC6 and nausea has been tested repeatedly in randomised human trials, with reasonably consistent results for pressure bands and finger pressure. HT1 has nothing resembling that evidence base. Anyone presenting HT1 results as established fact is going beyond what has been published.

What this means for you: treat HT1 as traditional practice, not as a tested treatment. Use it lightly if you are curious, keep expectations low, and take any chest, arm or armpit symptom to a clinician rather than to a pressure point.