Huaroumen

What is ST24?

ST24, or Huaroumen, is a point on the Stomach channel of the upper abdomen, one thumb-width above the navel and two thumb-widths out to the side.

The name is usually translated as "Slippery Flesh Gate". It is the twenty-fourth point of the Stomach channel, sitting in a vertical line of abdominal points that runs from the ribs down to the groin. Its close neighbours are ST23 just above it and ST25 (Tianshu) at the level of the navel.

In classical Chinese medicine, ST24 was listed for stomach pain, vomiting and abdominal fullness, and — less obviously — for a stiff tongue and for agitated, raving mental states. It is taught in most acupuncture curricula as part of the channel, but it is rarely a headline point; practitioners reach for ST25 or ST36 far more often.

Here is the honest verdict on the evidence. There is no good human research testing finger pressure on ST24 for anything. Its reputation rests on classical texts and clinical habit, not on trials. Long traditional standing tells you that people have used a point for a long time. It does not tell you the point works, and it does not tell you the point is safe for you — the abdomen in particular has organs and blood vessels close under the skin, so who presses it matters.

What ST24 can reasonably be used for is gentle, self-applied abdominal massage over a spot that tradition associates with digestion. That is a modest and honest claim. If you are pressing it hoping to fix an ongoing gut problem, get the problem diagnosed first. Pressure on the belly can feel soothing; it cannot tell you why your stomach hurts.

Everything below describes finger pressure only. Nothing on this page is an instruction for needling, and you should not attempt needling on yourself.

Where is ST24 and how do you find it?

Find ST24 one thumb-width (about 2 cm) above the top of your navel, then two thumb-widths (about 4 cm) straight out to the side.

• Lie down first. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat. This softens the abdominal wall and makes the landmarks much easier to feel than when you are standing.
• Start at the navel. Put one fingertip in the centre of your navel. Everything on this page is measured from that single reference point.
• Go up one thumb-width. Move straight up the midline by the width of your own thumb at the knuckle, roughly 2 cm. You should now be just above the rim of the navel, still on the centre line.
• Go out two thumb-widths. From there, move sideways — left or right — by about two thumb-widths, roughly 4 cm. ST24 is a paired point, so there is one on each side.
• Check the muscle. Lift your head slightly off the pillow to tense your abdominal muscles. ST24 sits over the firm vertical band of the rectus abdominis, the "six-pack" muscle, usually just inside its outer edge.
• Feel for the response. Press gently with a flat fingertip. The right spot often feels slightly fuller, duller or more tender than the skin a centimetre either side.

Use your own thumb for measuring, not someone else's. Traditional measurements are proportional, so a tall person's one cun is larger than a small child's. On a larger or softer abdomen the landmarks are harder to feel, and the point is best treated as a small coin-sized area rather than a precise dot.

One caution about landmarks. If you feel a bulge that pushes out when you cough or lift your head, that may be a hernia and not the point. Stop and have it checked rather than pressing on it.

How do you apply pressure to ST24?

1. Empty bladder, light stomach. Use the toilet first and wait at least an hour after a large meal. Pressing a full stomach or bladder is uncomfortable and pointless.
2. Get horizontal. Lie on your back with knees bent. A tense standing abdomen resists pressure, and you will end up pushing harder than you need to.
3. Use flat fingers, not a nail. Place the pads of your index and middle finger on the point. Keep nails short and the fingers flat so the force spreads over a small patch rather than a sharp point.
4. Sink in slowly on the out-breath. Breathe out and let your fingers sink straight down about a centimetre. The abdomen should yield gradually. Never jab, never bounce.
5. Keep it mild. Aim for a dull, warm fullness rated about 3 out of 10. Sharp pain, a pulsing sensation under your fingers, or any urge to guard the muscle means back off at once.
6. Hold or circle for 30 to 60 seconds. Either hold steady or make slow, small circles. Then release just as slowly as you pressed in.
7. Do both sides. Repeat on the matching point on the other side so the abdomen is treated evenly.
8. Repeat sparingly. Two or three rounds per side, once or twice a day, is plenty. More is not better on the belly.

Stop immediately and do not resume if you feel a strong pulse under your fingertips, a hard or tender lump, nausea that worsens, dizziness, or pain that lingers after you let go. Mild redness that fades in a few minutes is normal; bruising is not, and means you pressed far too hard.

Do not use hard tools, massage guns, knuckles or elbows on this point. The abdominal wall is thin and there is no protective bone underneath. Fingers only.

What is ST24 traditionally used for?

• Stomach pain and fullness. Classical texts list ST24 for epigastric pain and a bloated, blocked feeling in the upper belly. No controlled human trial has tested finger pressure on ST24 for this. Gentle abdominal massage generally can feel soothing, but that is a non-specific comfort effect rather than proof the point does something particular.
• Nausea and vomiting. Tradition groups ST24 with other Stomach channel abdominal points used for vomiting. The evidence here sits elsewhere: PC6 on the inner wrist has genuinely decent controlled trial support for nausea, including after surgery and in pregnancy. ST24 has nothing comparable. If nausea is your problem, PC6 is the better-supported choice.
• Sluggish digestion and constipation. Abdominal self-massage over the gut is a long-standing folk and clinical practice, and small studies of general abdominal massage for constipation have shown modest short-term benefit. Those studies did not isolate ST24, so you cannot credit the point specifically.
• Abdominal tension and discomfort. Many people simply find slow pressure on a tight belly relaxing. That is a reasonable, honest use. It is comfort, not treatment.
• Mania and stiff tongue. Older texts record ST24 for manic agitation, raving speech and tongue stiffness. This is a historical indication with no modern evidence whatsoever. Do not treat psychiatric symptoms or sudden speech difficulty with acupressure — new slurred or stiff speech can signal a stroke and needs emergency care.

Taken together, ST24 is a point with a long paper trail and almost no research trail. Nothing here means it is useless. It means nobody has properly tested it, so claims about what it does should stay small.

Are there tips for using ST24 effectively?

• Warm your hands first. Cold fingers on the abdomen make the muscles tighten and guard. Rub your palms together for ten seconds before you start.
• Let the breath do the work. Sink in as you breathe out and pause as you breathe in. The abdominal wall naturally softens on the out-breath, so you need much less force.
• Treat it as an area, not a dot. Measurements on the belly are approximate on every body. Work a small coin-sized patch around the spot rather than hunting for a perfect millimetre.
• Pair it sensibly. Many self-care routines combine ST24 with ST25 at the level of the navel, or with ST36 below the knee. Pairing is a tradition-based habit, not something trials have compared, but it does no harm if pressure stays gentle.
• Use the better-evidenced point when it exists. For nausea specifically, spend your time on PC6 at the inner wrist. There is real controlled human evidence behind that one, and none behind ST24.
• Keep a short log. Note the symptom score before and after, for a week or two. Self-applied techniques are easy to over-credit; your own notes are a better guide than a video.
• Give it a fair but finite trial. If a week or two of regular, gentle use changes nothing, it is reasonable to stop. Pressing harder or longer is not the answer.
• Skip it when the belly is upset. Active diarrhoea, vomiting, cramping or a tender abdomen is the wrong time. Wait until things settle.
• Never use tools here. Massage guns, pressure pens and hard balls do not belong on an unprotected abdominal wall. Fingertips only, every time.

What do people get wrong with ST24?

• Expecting a cure. The commonest error is treating ST24 as a fix for an ongoing digestive illness. No acupressure point cures reflux, ulcers, gallstones or bowel disease, and using one instead of a diagnosis delays real care.
• Pressing far too hard. There is no bone under the abdominal wall to stop you. People push until it hurts because they assume harder means stronger. On the belly, hard pressure just causes bruising and guarding.
• Using the wrong measuring thumb. Copying a video presenter's hand position rather than measuring from your own navel with your own thumb puts you on a neighbouring point or off the channel entirely.
• Confusing it with ST25. ST25 sits level with the navel; ST24 is one thumb-width higher. They are often described interchangeably online. The distance is small, but if you are following a specific protocol, know which one you are on.
• Working on a full stomach. Pressing shortly after a big meal is uncomfortable and can make reflux worse. Wait an hour or more.
• Ignoring a bulge or lump. Treating a hernia, a hard lump or a pulsing area as "the point" is genuinely risky. Anything that bulges on coughing, feels hard, or throbs under the fingers needs a doctor, not pressure.
• Pressing through sharp pain. Sharp, stabbing or worsening abdominal pain is a signal to stop, not a sign the point is "working".
• Using it during pregnancy anyway. Firm pressure on the abdomen is not appropriate in pregnancy, and traditional texts also caution against abdominal points then. Do not improvise here.
• Trying to needle it. Reading about trials that needled abdominal points and then attempting it at home is dangerous. Self-applied finger pressure is the only method this page describes.

What does the research on ST24 actually say?

There is essentially nothing. We found no controlled human trial, and no reliable observational study, testing ST24 on its own — by acupressure or any other method — for stomach pain, nausea, bloating, constipation, weight or anything else. That is an honest gap, not an oversight in the search.

What does exist is indirect and cannot be credited to this point. ST24 sometimes appears as one of several points in multi-point abdominal acupuncture protocols, including some studies of obesity and functional gut complaints. When a study needles six or eight points at once and reports a group result, there is no way to work out what any single point contributed. Those are also needling studies; this page is about finger pressure, which is a different intervention delivering different force to different tissue depths.

The wider acupressure literature has the same limits throughout. Most trials are small, cannot blind participants to whether they are being touched, run for only a few weeks, and measure self-reported symptoms. Those features all push results in a positive direction regardless of whether the technique does anything specific. The clear exception is PC6 for nausea and vomiting, which has been tested repeatedly in reasonable controlled trials and holds up. ST24 has no such record.

What this means in practice is simple. If gentle pressure here makes your abdomen feel more comfortable, that is a real experience and a fine reason to keep doing it. It is not evidence that ST24 is acting on your stomach, and it should not be the reason you delay investigating a symptom. Treat any claim that ST24 "regulates digestion" or "burns abdominal fat" as marketing until a trial says otherwise.

We will update this page if credible human research on ST24 appears.