Erheliao

What is TE22?

TE22 (Erheliao) is a point on the Triple Energizer channel, sitting in front of the upper ear at the edge of the temple hairline.

Its Chinese name is usually translated as "Ear Harmony Bone-Hole". Classical texts group it with the points that ring the ear, and it is listed as a meeting point of the Triple Energizer, Gallbladder and Small Intestine channels. Traditional indications cluster around the head and face: one-sided headache, ringing in the ears, a clenched or stiff jaw, and facial weakness.

The honest verdict on evidence: there is essentially no human research on TE22 specifically. What exists for acupressure in general is mostly small, short and unblinded, meaning participants knew what they were getting and the effect was measured over days rather than months. Nothing published lets anyone say TE22 treats a named condition.

Two things are worth saying once, clearly, so the rest of this page does not have to keep repeating them. First, a point's long history is not evidence that it works; centuries of use tell you what practitioners believed, not what happens in a controlled comparison. Second, that history is not evidence that it is safe either. Safety has to be judged from what is physically under your fingers.

In the case of TE22 that matters more than usual. The superficial temporal artery runs directly through this spot, which is why many classical sources flagged the area as one to treat with care. You can often feel it beating under a fingertip. That anatomy shapes most of the cautions further down this page.

Everything described here is self-applied finger pressure on intact skin. This library does not cover needling, moxibustion or cupping, and nothing below should be read as instruction for them.

Where is TE22 and how do you find it?

TE22 sits just in front of the upper ear, at the back edge of the temple hairline, where a small artery pulses under your fingertips.

• Start at the ear. Find the little flap of cartilage that points backwards over the ear canal opening. The root of the ear above it is your reference line.
• Move up and forward. Slide your fingertip up to the level where the ear meets the side of your head at its highest front point, then step forward about a finger's width towards your temple.
• Feel for the hairline. TE22 sits at the posterior border of the temple hairline, where the hair-bearing skin meets the smoother skin in front of the ear.
• Find the pulse. Rest two fingers lightly there and wait. Most people can feel a shallow beat; this is the superficial temporal artery, and the point is described as lying on it.
• Check the neighbours. TE21 (Ermen) is lower and closer to the ear canal, sitting in the notch in front of it. If you are in a hollow right beside the canal, you have dropped too low.

In classical measurement the ear-front points sit a fraction of a cun apart, which is only a few millimetres on most heads. Do not chase precision you cannot feel. The agreed landmark is simple: front and slightly above the upper ear, at the hairline, on the pulse.

Compare both sides. The spot often feels slightly tender or tight on one side if you have been clenching your jaw or squinting, which makes it easier to locate. No needle depth or angle is given here, because this page covers finger pressure only.

How do you apply pressure to TE22?

1. Sit down first. Choose a chair with a back. Working near the temple can make some people feel briefly light-headed, and sitting removes the risk of a fall.
2. Use one fingertip. The index or middle finger is enough. This is a thin, bony area with skin close to the skull, so a thumb is usually too blunt.
3. Press lightly. Aim for gentle, steady contact rather than a dig. A reasonable target is pressure you would describe as noticeable but easy to hold a conversation through.
4. Do not squash the pulse. If you feel a beat under your finger, ease off until the beat is still there. Never clamp down hard enough to flatten an artery, and never press both temples firmly at the same time.
5. Hold or circle. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds, or make small slow circles for the same length of time, keeping the skin moving with your finger rather than rubbing across it.
6. Rest and repeat. Release for a few breaths, then repeat two or three times. Both sides can be done one after the other.
7. Keep sessions short. A few minutes once or twice a day is plenty. More pressure and more time do not make this safer or more useful.

Stop immediately if you feel dizzy, if your vision blurs, if the area becomes sharply painful, or if a headache gets worse rather than easier. Stop also if the skin reddens and stays red, or if you notice a tender, rope-like, unusually prominent vessel in your temple.

Do not use oils or balms this close to the eye. If you want slip, a clean dry fingertip on clean dry skin works fine. Trim or angle your nail so the edge does not catch the skin near the hairline.

What is TE22 traditionally used for?

• One-sided head pain. Classical sources list TE22 for temple headache and heaviness of the head. There are no trials testing pressure on this point for headache, so this remains a traditional claim rather than a demonstrated effect.
• Ringing in the ears. Tinnitus appears in nearly every classical description of the points around the ear, TE22 included. Reviews of acupuncture and acupressure for tinnitus consistently describe the studies as small, poorly blinded and inconsistent, and none isolate TE22.
• Jaw tightness. The point sits close to the muscles that close the jaw, and tradition cites it for lockjaw and difficulty opening the mouth. Some people find gentle temple pressure eases clenching, but that is comfort and muscle relaxation, not a tested treatment for jaw joint disorders.
• Facial weakness or twitching. Older texts name TE22 for facial paralysis. Modern evidence does not support acupressure as a treatment for facial nerve palsy, which needs prompt medical assessment because timing of treatment matters.
• Nasal and sinus complaints. Some lists add nosebleed and nasal congestion. The evidence here is essentially absent, and nosebleeds in particular are managed by pinching the soft part of the nose, not by pressing the temple.
• General tension and self-soothing. The most defensible everyday use is simple: a slow, light temple massage feels calming to many people. That benefit is non-specific, applies to most gentle self-massage, and is not unique to TE22.

Taken together, TE22 has a clear traditional role around the ear, jaw and temple, and almost no point-specific human research behind any of it. Treat anything above as what tradition claimed, and judge results on your own experience over a short trial.

Are there tips for using TE22 effectively?

• Find the pulse before you press. Locating the beat first tells you exactly how much pressure is too much. Once you know where it is, you can work just beside it rather than on top of it.
• Unclench the jaw first. Let your teeth part slightly and your tongue rest on the floor of your mouth. The temple muscle softens, and the point becomes much easier to feel.
• Go lighter than you think. Skin over the temple is thin and the bone is close. Light pressure held longer is more comfortable than hard pressure held briefly, and is less likely to leave soreness.
• Work both sides. Tension around the jaw and temple is rarely one-sided. Doing both sides, one after the other, usually feels more balanced than treating only the aching side.
• Pair it with the obvious basics. Water, a screen break, and loosening the jaw do more for a tension headache than any single point. Use TE22 alongside them, not instead of them.
• Keep a simple note. Write down the complaint, a 0 to 10 score before and after, and the date. After a fortnight you will know whether it is doing anything for you personally.
• Set a short trial. Give it two weeks of regular, brief sessions. If nothing has shifted, stop rather than escalating the pressure or the frequency.
• Mind your nails and hands. Clean hands and a short nail edge matter near the eye and hairline. Scratched skin in this area can be surprisingly slow to settle.

One practical note on expectations: changes you notice from gentle temple work are usually small, immediate and short-lived. That is a normal result for self-massage, not a sign you are doing it wrong or need to press harder.

What do people get wrong with TE22?

• Expecting a cure. Some videos present TE22 as a fix for tinnitus or chronic migraine. No acupressure point cures either, and treating it as a cure usually means delaying a proper assessment.
• Pressing too hard on the artery. Clamping down on the pulse in the temple is the single most common error here. It can hurt, and it is never necessary for the gentle effect people are after.
• Doing both temples hard at once. Firm two-handed compression of both temples is a bad habit. Keep contact light, and prefer one side at a time if you are at all unsure.
• Landing on TE21 instead. Dropping into the hollow right beside the ear canal puts you on TE21 (Ermen), not TE22. TE22 is higher, further forward, and sits at the temple hairline.
• Digging with a thumbnail. The skin here is thin and the hairline catches. A nail edge scratches rather than presses, and broken skin in this area is an easy infection risk.
• Using it for a sudden severe headache. A headache that arrives like a thunderclap, or comes with fever, stiff neck, weakness or confusion, is a reason to seek urgent care, not a reason to massage your temple.
• Ignoring a tender temporal artery. If the vessel in your temple is newly tender, hard or rope-like, stop pressing and get assessed. That pattern needs a doctor, not pressure.
• Overdoing the sessions. Long daily sessions do not improve results and can leave the area bruised or sore, especially in people who take blood thinners.

What does the research on TE22 actually say?

No useful human research on TE22 specifically was found. There are no published controlled trials, and no credible case series, testing finger pressure on Erheliao for headache, tinnitus, jaw pain or facial weakness.

That absence is not unusual. Most individual acupuncture points have never been studied on their own. Trials nearly always use a prescription of several points chosen by a practitioner, and when ear-region points appear in tinnitus or facial palsy studies, they are needled as part of a combination. Those studies cannot tell you what one point does, and they are not studying self-applied pressure at all.

The wider acupressure literature is also weaker than it looks. Reviews repeatedly find small samples, short follow-up, and no credible blinding, because a participant knows whether a finger is pressing their temple. Those design problems inflate apparent benefit, particularly for symptoms like pain and ringing in the ears that are reported by the person rather than measured by an instrument.

It is worth naming the contrast honestly. One acupressure use does have reasonable human evidence: pressure at PC6 on the inner forearm for nausea and vomiting, supported by a sizeable body of controlled trials, including in pregnancy sickness and after surgery. That is what decent point-specific evidence looks like. TE22 has nothing comparable.

What this means in practice is straightforward. Gentle pressure at TE22 is a low-cost comfort measure that some people find pleasant. It should not be described as a treatment, it should not replace assessment of a new or changing headache or of hearing loss and tinnitus, and anyone claiming trial support for it is overstating the record.