Ruzhong

What is ST17?

ST17 (Ruzhong) is the Stomach channel point at the centre of the nipple, in the fourth rib space. Its name means "middle of the breast".

ST17 is unusual. In almost every classical and modern text it is listed as a landmark rather than a treatment point. Teachers use it to measure across the chest and to find nearby points, not to work on it. The Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, one of the oldest surviving manuals, records it as a point not to be needled or burned with moxa (a smouldering herb). That caution has carried through two thousand years of practice.

Two things are worth separating before you read on. Long traditional standing tells you a point has been taught and written about for centuries. It does not tell you the point does anything measurable, and it does not tell you the point is safe for your particular body. Those are separate questions, and this page answers them separately.

The honest verdict on evidence: there is essentially none for ST17. No controlled human trial has tested pressure or any other treatment at this specific point for any condition. That is not a hidden result, it is a gap. Because the point sits on the nipple, almost nobody studies it, and the traditional literature itself steers practitioners away from it.

What this means in practice is simple. If a video told you to press ST17 for lactation, breast lumps, chest tightness or digestion, it is going well beyond what either tradition or research supports. The breast area does have tender spots that respond to gentle touch, and breast massage is a real supportive practice in some settings. None of that depends on ST17 as a point, and the nipple itself is the part of the breast most likely to be sore, cracked or sensitive.

Where is ST17 and how do you find it?

ST17 sits at the dead centre of the nipple, in the fourth rib space, about four thumb-widths out from the midline of the breastbone.

• Start at the breastbone. Run a finger down the hard flat bone in the centre of your chest. The ridge near the top, where the bone changes angle, sits level with the second rib.
• Count down the rib spaces. From that ridge, walk your fingers down over the second, third and fourth ribs. The soft gap below the fourth rib is the fourth intercostal space, the level ST17 is assigned to.
• Measure out from the midline. ST17 is described as four cun lateral to the centre line of the chest. Four cun is roughly four of your own thumb-widths, or about 8 to 10 cm in most adults.
• Confirm with the nipple. In a flat male chest, that measurement lands on the nipple itself. That is the point. There is nothing else to palpate.
• Expect variation in women. Breast tissue shifts with posture, age, weight and pregnancy, so the nipple is often well below the fourth rib space. Teachers deal with this by measuring the rib space from the breastbone and treating the nipple as approximate.

Because ST17 is defined by a body part rather than a hollow or a tendon, nobody argues about where it is. What is agreed is also the whole story: fourth intercostal space, four cun from the midline, centre of the nipple.

Only the point's surface position is described here. No needling, depth or angle is given on this page, and ST17 is one of the points classical texts specifically exclude from needling and moxa in any case.

How do you apply pressure to ST17?

The honest answer is that ST17 is not a point you work on. It is a measuring mark. If you still want to touch the area, keep it light, brief and over clothing where possible.

1. Check whether you need this point at all. Nearly every chest and breast routine you will find online uses points around the breast, not on it. If a routine names ST17, it has most likely copied the code without checking.
2. Wash your hands. Nipple skin cracks easily, especially while breastfeeding, and broken skin plus dirty fingers invites infection.
3. Use a flat fingertip pad, not a pinch. Rest the pad of your index or middle finger on the area. Never squeeze, pull, twist or knead the nipple.
4. Keep the pressure feather-light. A one or two out of ten, barely more than resting contact. This area has far more nerve endings than a forearm or a hand, so normal acupressure force is far too much here.
5. Keep it short. A few seconds of still contact is enough. There is no traditional dosing schedule for ST17, because the tradition does not treat it.
6. Stop immediately if anything is sore. Pain, burning, a lump under your finger, any discharge, or skin that is red and hot all mean hands off and a call to your doctor.

Do not apply pressure here on another person. Self-application only, on your own body, in private. That is not prudishness, it is the sensible boundary for an intimate site, and it applies absolutely to children and to anyone who cannot clearly consent.

If your actual goal is chest tightness, cough, blocked milk ducts or breast discomfort, look up the points taught for those purposes instead and read their own safety sections. ST17 will not be among them.

What is ST17 traditionally used for?

• Measuring the chest. This is the real traditional job of ST17. The nipple line is the reference for locating several nearby chest and abdominal points, and that is how teaching texts and point charts use the code.
• Nothing, by classical instruction. Old manuals list ST17 among the points not to be needled or treated with moxa. A point you are told not to treat does not accumulate a list of indications, and ST17 does not have one in the way most Stomach channel points do.
• Breast and lactation claims found online. Modern videos sometimes attach blocked ducts, low milk supply or breast lumps to ST17. These claims belong to neighbouring breast-region points in the source material, not to ST17. No human trial has tested ST17 for any of them.
• Chest fullness and cough. Occasionally listed by association, because the whole chest region is linked with the lungs and the Stomach channel in traditional theory. There is no trial evidence for ST17 and the claim rests on regional reasoning alone.

Setting tradition aside, here is what controlled human research shows for ST17: nothing, for any use. No randomised trial, no comparison study, no useful case series specific to this point has been identified. The evidence grade is "insufficient", which is different from "shown not to work" but is equally far from support.

Breast massage and gentle hand expression do have some supportive evidence for engorgement and blocked ducts during breastfeeding, and lactation consultants teach them. That work is done over the breast tissue and ducts with a whole hand, and it is not the same thing as pressing a point code. If that is your problem, a midwife, health visitor or lactation consultant is the right first stop.

Are there tips for using ST17 effectively?

• Use it as a ruler, not a button. The most useful thing ST17 does is tell you where the fourth rib space and the four-cun line are. Learn it that way and the rest of the chest map gets easier.
• Count ribs from the breastbone ridge. The small ridge partway down the breastbone marks the second rib. Counting down from there is far more reliable than guessing, especially if breast tissue has shifted the nipple.
• Lie down to check the landmark. Lying on your back settles the breast tissue and makes the rib spaces easier to feel. Standing in front of a mirror tends to mislead.
• Choose a different point for the job. If the goal is breast comfort, cough or chest tightness, look up the points taught for those and read their own safety notes. Substituting ST17 gains you nothing.
• Keep touch to your own body. Self-application in private, with clean hands, is the only sensible way to interact with this site. Never do it to someone else, and never to a child.
• Learn the difference between a point and a lump. ST17 is a map reference, not a thing you can feel. Anything you can actually feel under the skin here is breast tissue, and a new firm lump needs a doctor, not pressure.
• Track what you notice, honestly. If you do use gentle chest-area touch for relaxation, write down what changed and over how long. Short-term unblinded self-reports are exactly the kind of evidence that tends to overstate benefit, and knowing that keeps you sceptical of your own results.

One general tip applies to every point on this site. Acupressure, where it helps at all, tends to produce small, short-lived changes in comfort. Treat anything bigger than that with suspicion.

What do people get wrong with ST17?

• Treating a landmark as a therapy point. The commonest error. ST17 exists on the chart to help locate other points, and classical texts specifically exclude it from treatment.
• Expecting a cure. No acupressure point cures mastitis, a blocked duct, a breast lump or anything else. Expecting one here delays the examination that actually matters.
• Pressing hard. Nipple skin and tissue are far more sensitive than a forearm. Force that feels moderate elsewhere can leave this area sore for days, and cracked skin can get infected.
• Massaging a lump to "clear" it. A lump that is new, firm, fixed or painless is not something to work on with fingers. It is something to have looked at promptly.
• Working through mastitis. Breast tissue that is red, hot, swollen and painful, often with a fever, needs medical assessment. Pressing on an infected breast can make things worse and wastes time.
• Confusing ST17 with the breast points beside it. Most online "ST17 for lactation" routines are describing points around the breast. Copying the wrong code means following the wrong safety advice too.
• Applying it to someone else. This is an intimate site. Doing it to a partner, a client or a child is not acupressure practice, it is a boundary problem.
• Ignoring recent surgery or radiotherapy. Scar tissue, implants, reconstruction and irradiated skin all change what the area tolerates. Pressure over any of them needs your surgeon's say-so first.
• Assuming old equals safe. ST17 has been on the charts for two millennia and the charts themselves tell you not to treat it. Age of a tradition says nothing about safety.

What does the research on ST17 actually say?

There is no useful human research on ST17. A search of the acupuncture and acupressure trial literature turns up no randomised controlled trial, no controlled comparison and no credible case series testing this specific point for any condition. That is the plain finding, and it is not a close call.

The reason is straightforward. ST17 lies on the nipple, and the classical instruction not to needle or apply moxa there has been honoured in modern practice too. Ethics committees and clinicians have no appetite for studying treatment at this site, so it is left out of protocols. Points are only tested when someone is willing to treat them.

Research does exist for related problems, but it uses other points and other methods. Trials of breast massage and hand expression for engorgement and blocked ducts in breastfeeding women are generally small and unblinded, and they work over the breast tissue with the whole hand rather than targeting a coded point. Acupuncture studies for lactation and mastitis exist too, with mixed and mostly low-quality results, and they use points away from the nipple. None of this transfers to ST17.

What "insufficient" means for you is this. It is not a verdict that pressing ST17 fails, because nobody has run the test. It means there is no basis for expecting a benefit, and no safety data from trials to lean on either. Given the sensitivity of the site and the classical caution attached to it, the sensible reading is to use ST17 the way practitioners actually use it, as a landmark for finding other points.

Across acupressure generally, the honest summary is that trials are small, short, rarely blinded and often funded or run by enthusiasts. PC6 for nausea is the one clear exception with repeated decent trials behind it. ST17 is at the opposite end of that range.