Bulang

What is KI22?

KI22, or Bulang, is a point on the Kidney channel in the fifth rib space of the chest, about two thumb-widths out from the breastbone.

Its pinyin name, Bulang, is usually translated as Corridor Walk or Walking on the Verandah. It is the lowest of six Kidney channel points that climb the front of the chest in a straight line, ending at KI27 just under the collarbone. Classical texts list these six together and give them broadly similar jobs.

In traditional use, KI22 was pressed for a cough, wheezy or tight breathing, a full or sore feeling in the chest, and for nausea, vomiting or poor appetite. That is a long record of use. But a point being listed for centuries tells you people used it, not that it works, and not that it is safe for you. Those are two separate questions, and tradition answers neither.

The safety question matters more here than on an arm or leg point. KI22 sits over the ribs, with the lung and heart behind them and, in many people, breast tissue over or beside it. That does not make gentle finger pressure dangerous for most healthy adults, but it does mean a few specific people should leave this spot alone.

The honest verdict on evidence: no human trial testing KI22 on its own was found. The wider acupressure literature is mostly small, short-term and unblinded, so even its positive findings are weak. One narrow exception exists elsewhere on the body, PC6 for nausea, and KI22 has nothing like that behind it.

Treat KI22 as a comfort practice you can try alongside proper care, not as a treatment for any chest or breathing problem.

Where is KI22 and how do you find it?

KI22 sits on the chest in the fifth rib space, about two thumb-widths to the side of the midline of the breastbone.

• Sit up and find the midline. Run a finger down the centre of your breastbone. This line is your reference for everything that follows.
• Find the bump near the top. About 5 cm below the notch at the base of your throat, the breastbone has a slight ridge. The rib joining there is the second rib.
• Count down four spaces. Walk your fingers down the gaps between ribs, one at a time. The fourth gap below that second rib is the fifth rib space, where KI22 lies.
• Use the nipple as a cross-check. On a flat male chest the nipple usually sits in the fourth rib space, so KI22 is one space lower and well inside of it, closer to the breastbone.
• Measure sideways. From the midline, move out two thumb-widths, roughly 4 to 5 cm. In traditional measurement that is 2 cun, which is halfway between the midline and the nipple line.
• Settle into the hollow. You want the soft gap between two ribs, not the hard bar of the rib itself. The spot often feels slightly tender or spongy compared with the bone either side.

The point is paired, so there is one on the left and one on the right. If counting ribs is hard to feel through soft tissue, lie back, breathe out, and let your fingers sink gently until the ridges become clear.

If the spot falls under breast tissue, do not dig through it. Work only where you can feel the rib space clearly, and skip the point if you cannot. A rough landing a centimetre off is not dangerous, but it is honest to say you may have found KI23, which sits one rib space higher on the same line.

This is finger pressure only. Nothing on this page involves anything that breaks the skin.

How do you apply pressure to KI22?

1. Warm your hands first. Cold fingers on the chest make people tense and hold their breath, which is the opposite of what you want.
2. Sit or lie back comfortably. A supported position lets the chest soften, so the rib spaces are easier to feel and the pressure stays even.
3. Use the flat pad of one finger. The index or middle fingertip is enough. Do not use a knuckle, a thumbnail or any hard tool on the chest.
4. Press into the gap, not the bone. Aim straight in toward the rib space, with light to moderate pressure. You want a dull, bearable sense of contact, never a sharp or stabbing feeling.
5. Stay light over the chest. Keep it well below your pain threshold. Ribs bruise, and harder pressure here buys you nothing.
6. Hold with your breathing. Press gently as you breathe out, ease off as you breathe in. Keep this going for about 30 to 60 seconds.
7. Add small circles if you prefer. Slow circles over the spot, roughly one per second, are a reasonable alternative to a steady hold.
8. Do both sides. Treat left and right equally, one after the other.
9. Repeat sparingly. Two or three short rounds a day is plenty. More does not make it work better.

Stop immediately and do not try again if pressing brings on chest pain, breathlessness, a racing heart, dizziness, or pain that spreads into the jaw, neck, back or arm. Those symptoms need medical attention, not more pressure.

Also stop if the skin reddens and stays sore, or if the rib area is tender the next day. A short rest of a few days is the right response to soreness.

Give any self-care trial a sensible limit. If the symptom you are pressing for has not shifted in a week or two, or is getting worse, the answer is a clinician, not a longer routine.

What is KI22 traditionally used for?

• Cough and wheezy breathing. The chest points of the Kidney channel were classically pressed for coughing and for noisy, laboured breathing. No controlled human trial has tested KI22 for either, so this is tradition only. Asthma and chronic cough need diagnosis and prescribed treatment.
• A tight or full chest. Old texts describe KI22 for a stuffed, oppressed feeling behind the breastbone. Gentle pressure plus slow breathing may feel settling, but there is no evidence it changes anything inside the chest. Any new chest tightness needs checking first.
• Nausea and vomiting. Bulang appears in classical lists for a stomach that will not settle and for retching. The evidence for acupressure and nausea is attached to a different point, PC6 on the inner wrist, where several controlled trials support a modest effect. Nothing similar exists for KI22.
• Poor appetite. Tradition linked these chest points to a counterflow of energy that spoiled appetite. There is no human research testing this claim for KI22.
• Hiccups and belching. Some classical sources list KI22 here too. This is historical usage with no trial evidence behind it.
• Breast soreness. Because of where it sits, some texts mention KI22 for pain or swelling in the breast. This is one to be careful with. A new breast lump, a hot red breast, or nipple discharge needs a doctor promptly, and pressing on inflamed breast tissue can make things worse.
• General relaxation. The most defensible use is the plainest one. A minute of slow breathing with a hand resting on the chest helps some people feel calmer, and that effect does not depend on the point being real.

Across every item on this list, the realistic ceiling is temporary, modest comfort. None of these uses is a reason to delay a diagnosis or change prescribed medication.

Are there tips for using KI22 effectively?

• Count your ribs sitting upright. Rib spaces are far easier to feel with your back straight and shoulders relaxed than slumped in a chair. Find the spot first, then lie back to press it.
• Let the breath lead. Press on the out-breath and release on the in-breath. Most of the calm people report from chest points comes from the slow breathing, so give it the main role.
• Go lighter than you think. The chest is thin-skinned and bony. Firm pressure that would suit a calf muscle is too much here and leaves bruising.
• Work both sides evenly. KI22 is paired. A minute on each side is a sensible session.
• Use a mirror once. Locating the fifth rib space in a mirror on your first attempt helps you find it by feel afterwards.
• Keep sessions short and spaced. Two or three rounds a day beats one long session. Long sessions mostly produce sore skin.
• Write down what happened. Note the symptom score before and after for a week. If nothing changes, you have an honest answer instead of a vague impression.
• Try it when you are already settled. Pressing a chest point while anxious about a symptom often makes you focus harder on the chest. Calm first, press second.
• Skip it if the area is tender. A day of rest after any soreness is better than pushing through it.
• Keep your usual treatment running. If you use an inhaler, anti-sickness medicine or heart medication, carry on exactly as prescribed. Acupressure is an add-on at most.

One last practical point. If you cannot find the rib space confidently through breast tissue or a thick chest wall, it is better to pick an easier point elsewhere than to press hard on the chest hunting for it.

What do people get wrong with KI22?

• Expecting a cure. This is the big one. No acupressure point cures asthma, a chest infection, reflux or heart disease, and KI22 has no trial evidence behind any claim at all.
• Pressing the rib, not the space. Landing on the hard bar of bone instead of the soft gap between two ribs. It hurts, achieves nothing, and can bruise the rib lining.
• Pressing far too hard. People transfer deep-tissue habits from the shoulders to the chest. Ribs are not built for that, and more force does not mean more effect.
• Going out too far. KI22 is two thumb-widths from the midline, not out at the nipple line. Drifting sideways takes you off the Kidney channel entirely.
• Being one space off. Counting from the wrong rib lands you on KI23, which sits one space higher. It is not harmful, but it is not the point you meant to use.
• Digging through breast tissue. Forcing fingers through glandular tissue to reach a rib space is uncomfortable and can aggravate a sore breast. Skip the point instead.
• Using it on undiagnosed chest pain. The most dangerous mistake on this page. Pressing a point while waiting out crushing or spreading chest pain delays care that may be urgent.
• Swapping it for medication. Reaching for a finger instead of a reliever inhaler or prescribed anti-sickness medicine. Never make that trade.
• Pressing a bruised or injured chest. After a fall, a seatbelt impact or a heavy cough that cracked a rib, the area needs rest, not pressure.
• Doing it for too long. Ten minutes of grinding on one spot leaves sore skin and no extra benefit. A minute is enough.

If you are unsure whether you have the right spot, the safe response is lighter pressure and a wider contact area, not more force.

What does the research on KI22 actually say?

There is essentially nothing. No controlled human trial testing KI22, Bulang, on its own for cough, chest tightness, nausea or anything else was found. That is the honest starting point for this page.

This is not unusual. The great majority of individual acupuncture and acupressure points have never been isolated and tested in a trial. Research that does exist tends to use multi-point protocols, so even when a study reports a benefit, you cannot tell which point, if any, did the work.

The acupressure literature as a whole has known weaknesses. Most trials are small, run for days or weeks rather than months, and cannot blind the person pressing or the person being pressed. Expectation plays a large role in symptom reports like breathlessness or queasiness, which inflates results in unblinded studies.

The one area where acupressure has reasonably convincing human evidence is PC6 on the inner wrist for nausea and vomiting, including after surgery and in pregnancy, where several controlled trials and reviews support a modest effect. That is a different point on a different channel, and its evidence does not transfer to KI22.

You may see KI22 listed in older case reports or clinical texts as part of a chest-point combination used with needling. Reporting what a practitioner did in a case write-up is not the same as evidence that the point worked, and nothing on this page tells you to do anything a needle study described.

What this means for you is simple. If you try KI22, treat it as a low-cost comfort experiment with an unknown and probably small effect. Judge it on your own symptom notes over a week or two, keep your prescribed treatment going, and see a clinician if the problem persists.