Shufu

What is KI27?

KI27 (Shufu) is the last point of the Kidney channel, in the hollow just below the inner end of the collarbone.

Its Chinese name is usually translated as "Shu Mansion" or "Transport Point Palace". In classical texts it is grouped with the chest points of the Kidney channel and linked with coughing, wheezing, tight chest and nausea. Teachers often use it as the end-of-channel landmark when they trace the Kidney line up the abdomen and chest.

It is widely taught and widely used, which says something about tradition and nothing about proof. Traditional standing is not evidence that a point works, and it is not evidence that pressing it is safe for you. Those are two separate questions, and this page keeps them apart.

The honest verdict on evidence: there is essentially no human research testing finger pressure on KI27 by itself for any condition. Where it appears in studies, it is one of several points in a package, so nothing can be credited to KI27 alone. Acupressure research in general is mostly small, short-term and hard to blind, because people know when they are being pressed.

That does not make KI27 useless as a self-care habit. Gentle pressure on the upper chest is calming for many people, and slow breathing while you do it has its own modest, well-documented effect on tension. Just do not expect it to treat asthma, heart disease or an infection.

One practical point about location matters more here than at most points. KI27 sits over the top of the lung and close to the large blood vessels of the neck and the collarbone itself. Everything on this page is self-applied finger pressure only. Nothing here involves needles, skin-breaking, burning herbs or cups, and this library never gives instructions for any of those.

Where is KI27 and how do you find it?

KI27 sits in the small hollow under the lower edge of the collarbone, about two thumb-widths out from the centre of the breastbone.

• Start at the throat hollow. Put a fingertip in the soft dip at the base of your throat, between the two inner ends of your collarbones. This is your midline reference.
• Drop onto the breastbone. Slide down a little onto the hard top of the breastbone (sternum). The centre line of that bone is the line you measure out from.
• Measure across. Move about two thumb-widths sideways, roughly 4 to 5 cm in an average adult. In traditional terms this is 2 cun lateral to the front midline.
• Find the ledge of the collarbone. Trace the lower border of your collarbone inwards with a fingertip. KI27 is in the soft depression just under that lower border, level with the first rib space.
• Check both sides. KI27 is a paired point, one on the left and one on the right. The hollows should feel symmetrical.

You are looking for a dip, not a bump. If your finger is on hard bone, you are either on the collarbone above or the breastbone inside. Slide a few millimetres until the tissue feels softer and gives slightly.

Points nearby can confuse you. The next Kidney point down, KI26, sits in the first space between the ribs, lower than KI27. Points sitting further out towards the shoulder, under the outer part of the collarbone, belong to other channels.

A tender spot is not proof you are in the right place, and a non-tender spot is not proof you are wrong. Tenderness here can also come from tight neck and chest muscles. If one side is sharply painful or you feel a lump, leave it alone and get it checked rather than pressing harder.

How do you apply pressure to KI27?

1. Sit upright and relax your shoulders. Let your chest open. Slouching buries the hollow and makes the landmark hard to feel.
2. Use a flat fingertip. The pad of the index or middle finger works best. Crossing your hand to the opposite side is more comfortable than reaching straight down.
3. Settle into the hollow. Rest the finger pad in the dip under the collarbone. Press straight back towards the chest wall, not upwards under the bone and not inwards towards the throat.
4. Keep it light. This is a thin, bony area over the top of the lung. Aim for a firm but comfortable 2 or 3 out of 10 — noticeable, never sharp. Much lighter than you would press on a thigh or shoulder muscle.
5. Hold and breathe. Hold steady pressure for 30 to 60 seconds while you breathe slowly out through the mouth. Small, slow circles are an alternative if steady pressure feels dull.
6. Do the other side. Repeat on the matching hollow so both sides get the same attention.
7. Repeat sparingly. One to three rounds per session, once or twice a day, is plenty. There is no benefit to grinding away at it.

Stop straight away if you feel sharp pain, pins and needles down the arm, dizziness, lightheadedness or any change in your breathing. Stop also if the skin reddens badly or stays sore afterwards.

Do not use a massage gun, hard tool, knuckle or thumbnail here. Fingers only, and no digging under the edge of the collarbone.

Pressure on KI27 is a comfort measure, not a treatment. It should never replace an inhaler, prescribed medicine or a trip to urgent care when you are struggling to breathe.

What is KI27 traditionally used for?

• Cough and wheeze. Classical sources list KI27 for cough, asthma-type wheezing and a tight chest. No controlled human trial has tested finger pressure on KI27 alone for any breathing problem, so this remains a traditional claim only.
• Chest tightness and shortness of breath. Tradition describes it as settling rebellious qi rising in the chest. Modern evidence is absent. Slow breathing while you press does calm many people, but that is the breathing, not proof about the point.
• Nausea, hiccups and belching. Older texts link the Kidney chest points with vomiting and food not going down. For nausea specifically, the point with real controlled human evidence is PC6 at the wrist, not KI27 — if nausea is your problem, PC6 is the better-studied choice.
• Anxiety and a tight upper chest. A common modern self-care use. Comfortable touch on the chest, paired with a long slow exhale, is pleasant and relaxing for many people. Studies that would separate the point from the touch and the breathing have not been done.
• Tension across the collarbone and neck. Light pressure near the attachments of the neck muscles often feels good. This is plausible soft-tissue comfort rather than a channel effect, and it is short-lived.
• Loss of appetite and low energy. Listed in some traditional indications through the Kidney channel's wider role. There is no human research supporting this for KI27.

The overall picture: strong traditional standing, almost no direct human evidence. That combination is normal for individual acupressure points and is worth knowing before you spend time on it.

Use KI27 as a calming routine alongside proper care for anything medical. If a cough lasts more than three weeks, if wheeze is getting worse, or if nausea is persistent or comes with weight loss, that is a doctor's appointment, not a pressure point.

What might regular use of KI27 help prevent?

Nothing has been shown in people. Tradition makes prevention claims for KI27; human research does not back any of them.

• Winter coughs and chest flare-ups. Some traditional approaches use the Kidney chest points through the colder months to "consolidate" the lungs and reduce repeat coughs. No trial has tested whether pressing KI27 changes how often anyone gets a chest infection or a flare of asthma. Vaccination, inhaler adherence and not smoking are the measures that actually have evidence.
• Breathlessness episodes. Daily pressure is sometimes promoted to head off tightness before it builds. There is no human evidence that it prevents an attack, and relying on it instead of a preventer inhaler is genuinely dangerous.
• Stress build-up. A one-minute pause with slow breathing, done daily, can take the edge off a stressful day. The credit belongs to the pause and the breathing pattern, which are reasonably well studied. KI27 is the excuse to stop, not the active ingredient.
• Nausea before travel or treatment. Tradition groups KI27 with points that settle the stomach. The point with real preventive evidence in this area is PC6 at the wrist, tested in controlled trials for motion sickness, post-operative nausea and pregnancy sickness. KI27 has nothing comparable.

Treat prevention claims about any single acupressure point with caution. Prevention is the hardest thing to prove, because it needs large groups followed for months, and studies of that size and length simply do not exist for KI27.

If you want to use it as a daily habit, that is a reasonable, low-cost choice as long as the pressure stays gentle and you are not in one of the avoid groups below. Just keep your expectations where the evidence is, which is close to zero for prevention.

Are there tips for using KI27 effectively?

• Find the dip, not the bone. Spend ten seconds tracing the lower edge of the collarbone before you press. Landing accurately matters more than pressing hard.
• Pair it with a long exhale. Breathe in for a count of four, out for a count of six, while the finger rests in place. The slow exhale is the part most likely to make you feel calmer.
• Cross-hand reach. Use your right hand for the left side and your left hand for the right side. The angle is easier and you are less likely to dig in.
• Keep the pressure honest. If you are making a face, it is too hard. Light and sustained beats heavy and brief on thin, bony areas like this one.
• Loosen your collar. A tight shirt button or a bra strap sitting over the area makes the hollow hard to feel and adds its own soreness.
• Try both sides together. Many people prefer resting both fingertips in both hollows for a minute, which also encourages the shoulders to drop.
• Set a time limit. Two or three minutes in total per session. Longer sessions do not add benefit and increase the chance of a sore, reddened patch.
• Track it honestly. If you are trying KI27 for a symptom, write down the symptom score before and after for a fortnight. Self-tracking is the only way to tell a real change from wishful thinking.
• Keep your real treatment running. Inhalers, anti-sickness medicine and prescribed tablets carry on exactly as prescribed. Acupressure sits beside them, never instead of them.

If a week or two of honest trial changes nothing, it is fine to stop. There is no benefit to persisting with something that is doing nothing for you.

What do people get wrong with KI27?

• Expecting a cure. The single biggest error. KI27 will not cure asthma, reflux, anxiety or a chest infection, and anyone promising that is selling something.
• Pressing on bone. Landing on the hard collarbone or the breastbone instead of the soft hollow just beneath the collarbone's lower edge. You will feel bruised and nothing else.
• Digging under the collarbone. Hooking a fingertip up and under the bone presses structures that do not want pressing. Press straight back towards the chest wall, gently.
• Going too hard. This is a thin area over the top of the lung. People use thigh-strength pressure here and end up with a tender, red patch for days.
• Confusing it with other chest points. KI27 is the most inner of the under-collarbone points, about two thumb-widths from the midline. Points further out towards the shoulder belong to other channels.
• Using tools. Massage guns, pressure pens, knuckles and thumbnails have no place on the upper chest. Finger pads only.
• Pressing a lump. Swollen glands under the collarbone are a reason to see a doctor, never a reason to massage harder.
• Skipping the inhaler. Reaching for a pressure point during breathlessness instead of reliever medication wastes the minutes that matter most.
• Assuming old equals safe. KI27 has been used for centuries, and that history tells you nothing about whether it is safe over your pacemaker, port or recent surgical scar.
• Overdoing the frequency. Pressing for twenty minutes several times a day irritates the skin and tissue without adding any benefit.

What does the research on KI27 actually say?

There is no useful human research on KI27 as a stand-alone treatment. Searches of the published literature turn up no controlled trial testing finger pressure on this point by itself, for breathing problems, nausea, anxiety or anything else.

Where KI27 shows up at all, it is one point within a multi-point protocol in studies of acupuncture or acupressure for cough, asthma or chest complaints. In that design, nothing can be credited to KI27 specifically. If the package helped, the effect could have come from any point in it, from the time with a practitioner, or from expectation.

This is the normal situation for individual points. Acupressure research as a whole is dominated by small studies, short follow-up and weak blinding, because a participant generally knows whether they are being pressed. Sham-controlled designs exist but are difficult, and many published trials do not use them.

The contrast with PC6 is worth drawing. PC6 at the wrist has been tested in many randomised controlled trials for nausea and vomiting, including motion sickness, after surgery and in pregnancy, and reviews of that body of work support a real, if modest, effect. That is what decent evidence for an acupressure point looks like. KI27 has nothing of the kind.

What that means in practice: treat anything you read about KI27 as traditional teaching rather than tested fact. It may still be worth a gentle try as a calming routine, because the risk from light finger pressure in a healthy chest is low. It is not worth delaying medical care for, and it is not a reason to change any prescribed treatment.

If better evidence appears, this page will say so plainly. Until then, the honest grade on the human-evidence axis is insufficient.