Rangu

What is KI2?

KI2 (Rangu) is a point on the inner edge of the foot, in the hollow just below the bony bump of the navicular bone. Its name is usually translated as "Blazing Valley" or "Burning Valley".

In Chinese medicine KI2 is the ying-spring point of the Kidney channel, one of the five classical "transport" points on that channel. It is listed in the earliest texts and is taught in every acupuncture curriculum, although in practice it is used far less often than its neighbour KI3.

Tradition gives it a cooling role. It was used for signs grouped under "deficiency heat": night sweats, hot palms and soles, a dry sore throat, and restlessness at night. It also appears in old texts for irregular periods, genital itching, and the classical pattern called wasting-thirst, which modern readers often see described as diabetes.

The honest verdict on evidence: there is essentially no human research testing finger pressure on KI2 for any of these uses. Where KI2 appears in studies at all, it is one of several needled points in a larger protocol, so nothing can be pinned on this point by itself.

Two things are worth saying plainly, and this page will only say them once. First, long traditional use is not evidence that a point works; a practice can be old, widely taught, and still unproven. Second, long traditional use is not evidence that a point is safe either. Safety has to be judged from what pressing on that bit of the body actually does, which is why the cautions below are about the foot, not about the tradition.

What acupressure on KI2 realistically offers is a few minutes of warm, steady, self-applied pressure on a sore part of the inner arch. Some people find that soothing. That is a reasonable thing to want, and it is a smaller claim than the texts make.

Where is KI2 and how do you find it?

KI2 sits in the hollow just below the navicular tuberosity, the bony bump on the inside of the foot between the inner anklebone and the big toe joint.

• Sit so you can reach your foot. Rest the ankle of one leg across the opposite thigh, with the inner edge of the foot facing up. A chair with your heel on a low stool also works.
• Find the inner anklebone. That is the medial malleolus, the round knob on the inside of your ankle. Put a fingertip on it as your starting landmark.
• Slide forward along the inner arch. Move your finger from the anklebone towards the big toe, staying on the inside edge of the foot. About 2.5 to 4 cm along, you will meet a firm bump that sticks out.
• Confirm the bump. That is the navicular tuberosity. It is the most prominent bone on the inner arch, and it feels hard and rounded under the skin.
• Drop just below it. KI2 is in the small dip immediately underneath that bump, on the line where the paler skin of the sole meets the darker skin of the top of the foot. Classical texts call this the "red and white skin" border.
• Check by feel. Press gently with your thumb tip. You should be in soft tissue in a hollow, not on hard bone. Many people notice a dull, slightly tender spot here.

A useful cross-check: the tendon that runs under this area tightens when you point your toes downward and inward. KI2 sits in the dip above and in front of where that tendon passes.

If you cannot feel a clear bump, do not guess wildly. What is agreed across sources is that KI2 lies on the inner arch, below the navicular prominence, in front of and below the inner anklebone. Stay in that small area and work the whole dip rather than hunting for one exact millimetre.

How do you apply pressure to KI2?

1. Get comfortable first. Sit with the foot resting on the opposite thigh so your hand reaches the inner arch without straining your back or neck.
2. Warm the foot. Rub the arch with your palm for about thirty seconds. Cold, stiff feet are harder to read and more tender than warm ones.
3. Place your thumb pad. Use the flat pad of the thumb, not the nail edge, in the hollow below the navicular bump. Your fingers can wrap the top of the foot for support.
4. Press slowly inward. Build pressure over two or three seconds, aiming towards the centre of the foot. Stop at firm but comfortable, usually around 3 or 4 out of 10 for discomfort.
5. Hold or circle. Either hold steady for 20 to 60 seconds, or make small slow circles for the same time. Keep breathing normally throughout.
6. Release gradually. Ease off over a couple of seconds rather than lifting suddenly, then rest for a few breaths.
7. Repeat and swap sides. Do two or three rounds per foot, then treat the other foot the same way so both sides get equal attention.
8. Keep sessions short. A total of two to five minutes per foot is plenty. Once or twice a day is a reasonable ceiling for self-use.

This is finger pressure only. Nothing on this page involves needles, skin heating, suction cups or anything that breaks the skin, and you should not attempt those on yourself.

Stop straight away if the pressure causes sharp or shooting pain, numbness, pins and needles, or pain that keeps getting worse as you hold. Stop also if the skin reddens and stays red, or if the area is sore the next day. Tenderness that fades within a minute of releasing is normal; bruising is not, and it means you pressed too hard.

What is KI2 traditionally used for?

• Night sweats and night-time heat. Classically KI2 was a leading point for sweating at night and for hot palms and soles, grouped as "deficiency heat". No controlled human trial has tested KI2 pressure for night sweats, so this remains a traditional claim only.
• Dry, sore throat. Old texts pair the Kidney channel with the throat and list KI2 for dryness and soreness without obvious infection. There is no human evidence that pressing the foot changes throat symptoms.
• Restless, disturbed sleep. Tradition describes KI2 as settling heat that keeps someone awake and agitated. Acupressure for sleep has been studied, but with other points and mixed, small, unblinded results; KI2 itself has not been isolated.
• Irregular or difficult periods. The Kidney channel is tied to reproductive function in classical theory, and KI2 appears in menstrual formulas. Evidence for acupressure in period problems mostly involves SP6 and LI4, not KI2, and is of low quality.
• Foot and inner arch discomfort. This is the most straightforward use. KI2 sits in a spot that is often tender in people with arch strain, and firm thumb pressure on a tender arch can feel good locally. That is a plausible local effect, not proof of a channel effect.
• Cold feet. Massaging the inner arch briefly warms the area by rubbing and by increasing local blood flow. Anyone can feel this; it does not confirm the traditional Kidney-channel reasoning behind it.
• Wasting-thirst patterns. Classical texts list Rangu for a syndrome of thirst, hunger and frequent urination that modern readers often map onto diabetes. There is no evidence that KI2 pressure affects blood sugar, and it must never replace prescribed treatment or monitoring.

Across all of these, the pattern is the same: a long and consistent traditional record, and almost no modern testing of this specific point under the fingers.

Are there tips for using KI2 effectively?

• Find it with a bare foot. Socks blur the navicular bump and the skin-colour border that marks the spot. Locate it on bare skin, even if you later press through a thin sock.
• Use the bump, not a ruler. The navicular tuberosity is a landmark you can actually feel, so trust it over any measured distance from the anklebone, which varies with foot size.
• Work the hollow, not a dot. Spend your time exploring the small dip under the bone. The tender spot within it is usually easier to find than an exact textbook point.
• Press towards the middle of the foot. Aiming inward and slightly upward reaches the soft tissue in the hollow. Pressing straight down often just lands you on bone.
• Anchor with the other fingers. Cupping the top of the foot with your remaining fingers gives your thumb something to squeeze against, so you use less wrist force.
• Keep it brief and regular. Two or three short sessions a week, done consistently, beat one long hard session that leaves the arch sore.
• Pair it with a calf and arch stretch. If you are using KI2 for tired feet, a slow calf stretch afterwards usually does more for the symptom than the point work alone.
• Track what you notice. Jot down the symptom, the date and a 0 to 10 score. Self-applied techniques are easy to over-credit, and a simple log keeps you honest about whether anything changed.
• Give it a fair but limited trial. Two to three weeks is long enough to judge. If nothing has shifted, stop rather than escalating the pressure.
• Check your feet first if you have diabetes. Look at the skin before you press, and ask your foot care team whether self-massage is appropriate for you.

What do people get wrong with KI2?

• Expecting a cure. The biggest error is treating KI2 as a fix for night sweats, periods or blood sugar. No acupressure point cures anything, and the research on this point is close to non-existent.
• Pressing on bone. Landing on the hard navicular bump instead of the hollow just below it. It hurts, it achieves nothing, and it can leave the bone tender for days.
• Confusing it with KI1. KI1 (Yongquan) is on the sole, in the dip behind the ball of the foot. KI2 is on the inner edge of the foot, not underneath it.
• Confusing it with KI3. KI3 sits behind the inner anklebone, between the bone and the Achilles tendon. If your thumb is behind the anklebone, you have gone too far back.
• Drifting onto SP4. SP4 lies further forward along the arch, below the base of the first long foot bone. KI2 stays just under the navicular bump.
• Grinding with the nail. Using the nail edge or a hard tool breaks skin on a thin-skinned area. Use the flat thumb pad only.
• Pressing a foot you cannot feel properly. If nerve damage has reduced sensation, pain stops protecting you and it is easy to injure the skin without noticing.
• Ignoring a mechanical problem. Persistent inner arch pain can be tendon strain or a stress fracture. Massaging it daily while it worsens delays a diagnosis that matters.
• Replacing medical care. Using KI2 instead of taking prescribed medication, or instead of getting new night sweats or unexplained weight loss investigated, is the mistake with the real consequences.
• Doing far too much. Twenty minutes of hard thumb work leaves most people with a bruised arch. Short and moderate is the version that is sustainable.

What does the research on KI2 actually say?

There is essentially no human research on KI2 on its own. A search of the clinical literature turns up no controlled trial that tested finger pressure on KI2 against a fair comparison for night sweats, sore throat, sleep, menstrual symptoms or blood sugar. That is the plain answer, and it should be the starting point for anyone who found this point in a video.

Where KI2 appears at all, it is one name in a list of several points used together in an acupuncture protocol, usually needled by a practitioner. Studies built that way cannot tell you what KI2 contributed. If such a study shows a benefit, the credit is shared across every point, the practitioner contact, and the patient's expectations.

It is also worth knowing the general shape of acupressure research, because it sets a ceiling on how confident anyone can be. Most trials are small, run for a few weeks, and cannot blind the participant, who obviously knows whether a thumb is pressing on their foot. Outcomes are usually self-reported scores. That combination inflates apparent benefits, which is why cautious reviewers describe the field as low-certainty.

There is one genuine exception elsewhere in the literature, and naming it keeps the comparison honest. PC6 on the inner wrist has repeatedly been tested for nausea and vomiting in reasonably designed human trials, and the evidence there is real, if modest. KI2 has nothing approaching that. Do not transfer confidence from one point to another just because both belong to the same tradition.

What this means in practice: treat any benefit you notice from KI2 as personal and unverified. Local comfort in a tired arch is believable and easy to explain. A systemic effect on sweating, hormones or metabolism is not supported, and you should not delay proper investigation of those symptoms while you test a foot point.