Lougu

What is SP7?

SP7, called Lougu, is a Spleen-channel point on the inner lower leg, about two hand-widths above the inner ankle bone.

Its Chinese name is usually translated as "Leaking Valley", a reference to the dip the point sits in between the shin bone and the calf muscles. Classical texts group it with the other lower-leg Spleen points and link it to digestion, fluid balance and heaviness or numbness in the leg.

In practice SP7 is a minor point. It appears in standard point lists and most training courses teach it, but it is rarely the star of a treatment plan. Practitioners reach far more often for SP6, three thumb-widths above the ankle bone, or SP9 below the knee. SP7 tends to be used as a supporting point alongside those.

Here is the honest verdict on the evidence: there is essentially none for SP7 specifically. No controlled human trial has tested finger pressure on this point on its own for any condition. What little research touches SP7 uses it inside a multi-point protocol, so any benefit cannot be traced back to this point.

Two things are worth saying once, clearly, and they apply to everything below. First, a long traditional record is not evidence that a point works; people used these points for centuries without any way to test them against a placebo. Second, tradition is not evidence that a point is safe either. Safety on this page comes from what is physically under your fingers, not from history. The inner lower leg holds large veins and the posterior tibial nerve and artery, so the cautions further down are about anatomy, not about tradition.

Everything described on this page is self-applied finger pressure on unbroken skin. Nothing here involves needles, heat, suction or anything that breaks the skin. If you want that kind of treatment, see a licensed practitioner.

Used gently, SP7 is a low-risk thing to try for comfort. Treat it as that and not as a treatment.

Where is SP7 and how do you find it?

SP7 sits on the inner calf, just behind the back edge of the shin bone, roughly 12 to 15 cm above the tip of the inner ankle bone.

• Sit down and bare the lower leg. Rest your ankle on the opposite knee, or sit with your foot flat on a stool. You need to see and reach the inner side of the leg comfortably.
• Find the inner ankle bone. That is the medial malleolus, the knobbly bump on the inside of your ankle. Put a fingertip on the highest point of it. This is your zero mark.
• Measure up two hand-widths. Lay four fingers across the inner leg just above the ankle bone; that spans about three cun in traditional measurement. Stack a second four-finger width above the first. You are now about six cun, or roughly 12 to 15 cm, above the ankle bone. Hand size scales with leg length, so your own hand is the right ruler.
• Find the back edge of the shin bone. Slide a thumb across from the front of your leg until the hard flat ridge of the tibia drops away into softer tissue. That drop-off is the landmark.
• Step just behind the edge. SP7 is in the soft groove immediately behind that bony edge, where shin bone meets calf muscle. It should feel like muscle and tendon, not bone.

A useful cross-check: SP6 is one four-finger width above the ankle bone in the same groove. SP7 is one further four-finger width up the same line. If your finger is on hard bone, you have drifted forward; move backwards towards the calf.

Many people feel nothing special at SP7, and that is normal. A point does not have to be tender to be the right spot. Some feel a dull ache or slight heaviness under firm pressure.

Do not worry about millimetre precision. Point locations vary a little between textbooks, and finger pressure covers a broad area anyway.

How do you apply pressure to SP7?

1. Get comfortable first. Sit with the leg supported so your calf muscles are relaxed. Pressing into a tensed, weight-bearing calf is harder and less pleasant.
2. Use your thumb pad. Place the flat pad of your thumb in the groove behind the shin bone edge. Avoid digging in with a fingernail or a knuckle, which concentrates force on a small patch of skin.
3. Press straight in, slowly. Increase pressure over a few seconds until you feel a firm, dull, tolerable sensation. Aim for about a 3 or 4 out of 10 on a discomfort scale. Sharp, hot, electric or shooting feelings mean back off straight away.
4. Hold or make small circles. Hold steady for 30 seconds to a minute, or move in slow small circles for the same time. Keep breathing normally; do not hold your breath.
5. Release gradually. Ease off over a couple of seconds rather than snapping your hand away.
6. Repeat and swap sides. Two or three rounds per leg is plenty. Most people do both legs, since the point exists on each.
7. Limit how often. Once or twice a day is reasonable. There is no evidence that more is better, and repeated hard pressure on the same patch of skin causes bruising.

Stop immediately and do not continue if you get numbness, pins and needles that spread into the foot, sharp pain, or the skin goes red and stays sore afterwards. The posterior tibial nerve runs in this part of the leg, and a tingling that radiates is a sign you are compressing it.

Do not use a hard tool, a pressure pen or a massage gun here on your own. The inner calf is a soft area over big blood vessels, and finger pressure gives you feedback that a tool does not.

If there is no change after a week or two of trying, it is reasonable to conclude it is not helping you and stop.

What is SP7 traditionally used for?

• Bloating and abdominal fullness. Classical sources link the lower Spleen points to digestion and to a sense of fullness or rumbling in the belly. There is no trial testing finger pressure on SP7 for bloating, so this rests on tradition alone.
• Fluid retention and leg heaviness. The name "Leaking Valley" ties the point to the movement of fluids, and it was used for swollen, heavy-feeling legs. No human study has measured swelling or fluid before and after pressing SP7. Persistent leg swelling needs a medical cause found, not a pressure point.
• Numbness, coldness or weakness in the lower leg. Texts mention SP7 for these local complaints. Any relief most likely comes from ordinary massage of the calf muscles, which is a plausible comfort effect rather than something unique to the point.
• Period pain, as a supporting point. Some protocols include SP7 alongside SP6 for menstrual cramps. The reasonable evidence in this area is for SP6, where several small trials of acupressure report short-term pain reduction. Those trials did not isolate SP7, so credit cannot be transferred to it.
• Urinary discomfort. Older texts list SP7 for difficult or scanty urination. This claim has no modern human testing behind it at all. Burning, blood in the urine or a fever alongside urinary symptoms is a reason to see a doctor, not to press a point.
• General calf tension. Slow pressure and circles on a tight inner calf often feel good. That is a straightforward soft-tissue effect, and it is the most honest reason to use SP7.

Across all of these, the pattern is the same: a long traditional record and almost no point-specific human research. The acupressure evidence base overall is made of small, short-term, unblinded studies, and SP7 does not even have those.

None of this is treatment for a diagnosed condition, and none of it should replace care you have been prescribed.

Are there tips for using SP7 effectively?

• Use your own hand as the ruler. Four fingers across equals about three cun on your body. Stacking two four-finger widths from the ankle bone scales correctly whether you are tall or short.
• Work the groove, not the bone. Keep the thumb pad just behind the hard back edge of the shin. If it feels hard and unyielding, slide a few millimetres towards the calf.
• Warm the leg first. A warm shower or a minute of rubbing the calf makes the tissue easier to press and more comfortable. Cold, tense muscle resists.
• Try both legs. The point is bilateral. Doing both sides takes under three minutes and is what most traditional routines do.
• Keep sessions short and regular. A minute or two per side, once or twice a day, beats one long hard session. Long heavy pressure mostly produces soreness.
• Sit so you are not straining. Hunching over a crossed leg for several minutes gives you a sore back. Rest the foot on a stool or chair instead.
• Check in afterwards. Note how you feel an hour later and the next day. If pressing SP7 leaves the area tender for more than a day, you pressed too hard.
• Pair it with the basics. For bloating or leg heaviness, walking, hydration and sleep do more than any point. Use acupressure as something added on top, never instead.
• Keep expectations modest. The honest best case is some short-term comfort and a few calm minutes. If that is what you want, you will not be disappointed.

One practical note on timing: there is no evidence that any hour of day works better. Pick a time you will actually remember, such as before bed, and keep it simple.

What do people get wrong with SP7?

• Expecting a cure. This is the biggest one. No acupressure point cures digestive disease, swelling, period problems or anything else, and videos promising it are selling something.
• Confusing SP7 with SP6. SP6 is three thumb-widths above the ankle bone; SP7 is twice that distance up the same line. People measure once and press SP6 while believing they are on SP7.
• Landing on the shin bone. The hard flat ridge at the front is the tibia. SP7 is in the soft hollow just behind its back edge, not on the bone itself.
• Digging with a nail or a tool. A fingernail, pressure pen or massage gun on the inner calf concentrates force over large veins and a nerve. Use the flat thumb pad.
• Chasing pain as proof. Many people press harder because it does not hurt, assuming soreness means it is working. Tenderness is not a sign of accuracy, and bruising is a real outcome.
• Ignoring one-sided leg swelling. A single calf that is swollen, warm, red or painful can mean a clot. Massaging it is the wrong move; that needs same-day medical assessment.
• Pressing through numbness. Tingling that spreads into the foot means you are on a nerve. People push on thinking it will pass. Stop and move your thumb.
• Using it instead of seeing someone. Delaying care for persistent abdominal pain, heavy periods or urinary symptoms while pressing a point is the most harmful mistake on this list.
• Overdoing the first session. Twenty minutes of hard pressure on day one usually produces a sore leg and nothing else. Short and gentle is the way.

A final one: assuming SP7 is safe just because it is old. Age tells you nothing about what sits under your fingers.

What does the research on SP7 actually say?

There is no useful human research on SP7 by itself. We found no controlled trial, and no good-quality single-arm study, that tested finger pressure on SP7 alone for any condition.

Where SP7 appears in the literature, it is as one point inside a larger protocol, usually with SP6 and other leg or abdominal points. Studies built that way cannot tell you what any single point contributed. If the protocol helped, the effect might have come from SP6, from the massage itself, from the attention of the person delivering it, or from the natural course of the complaint.

It is worth naming the comparison so you can judge the gap. For PC6 on the inner wrist and nausea, there are many controlled human trials, including studies in pregnancy sickness and post-operative nausea, and reviews generally find a real if modest benefit. That is the strongest case in the whole acupressure literature. SP6 for period pain sits well below it: several small randomised studies report short-term reduction in cramp pain, but they are mostly unblinded, short and of mixed quality. SP7 sits below even that, with essentially nothing of its own.

This matters because of how acupressure studies are built. Participants usually know whether they are being pressed or not, there is no good dummy pressure, and outcomes are self-reported comfort measures. Those designs reliably produce small positive results even when a treatment does nothing specific. So absence of evidence for SP7 is not proof it fails, but it does mean no one has shown it works.

What that means for you is practical. Treat SP7 as a comfort routine with a low chance of harm and an unknown chance of benefit. Do not spend money on courses or devices built around it, and do not postpone medical assessment of a real symptom while you try it.

If better research on this point appears, this page will be updated.

When to see a doctor

See a doctor for a calf that is swollen, hot, red or painful on one side, for leg numbness or weakness that does not go away, for abdominal pain lasting more than a few days, or for any new or changing symptom you were planning to self-treat.