Fushe

What is SP13?

SP13 (Fushe) is an acupressure point low on the belly, in the soft area just above the groin crease, on the Spleen channel.

Its Chinese name, Fushe, is usually translated as "Abdominal Abode" or "Bowel Abode". Classical texts list it as a meeting point of the Spleen and Liver channels with the Yin Linking vessel (Yin Wei Mai), one of the deeper pathways described in Chinese medicine.

In that tradition it belongs to the group of lower abdominal points used for cramping belly pain, groin pain and swellings in the lower abdomen. It is taught in point lists, but it is not one of the heavily used everyday points like SP6 or ST36.

Here is the honest verdict on the evidence. There is no useful human research on SP13 by itself, so nothing on this page should be read as a tested treatment. Acupressure research in general is mostly small, short and unblinded, and SP13 has not been singled out for study at all.

Two things are worth saying once, clearly, and they apply to everything below. First, long tradition is not evidence that a point works. A technique can be taught for a thousand years and still fail a fair trial. Second, tradition is not evidence that a point is safe either. SP13 sits over the lower abdomen and close to the groin, where there are large blood vessels, lymph nodes, the bladder and, in pregnancy, the uterus. That anatomy, not the tradition, is what decides who should keep their hands off it.

Everything described on this page is self-applied finger pressure on unbroken skin. Nothing here involves needles, heat, suction or anything that breaks the skin, and you should not attempt those things on yourself.

Used sensibly, gentle pressure here is a low-cost comfort measure. It is reasonable to try it alongside proper care for a diagnosed problem. It is not a substitute for finding out why your abdomen hurts.

Where is SP13 and how do you find it?

SP13 sits on the lower abdomen, roughly four thumb-widths out from the midline and a little above the groin crease.

• Start at the pubic bone. Lie down, knees bent and supported, and feel for the firm ridge of bone low in the centre of your pelvis, below the belly. The top edge of that bone is your reference line.
• Move up a short step. From the top of the pubic bone, come up a little less than one thumb-width, staying on the midline for the moment. In the classical description this level is about four and a third thumb-widths below the navel.
• Move outwards four thumb-widths. From there, travel sideways towards the hip by about the width of four of your own thumbs, roughly eight to ten centimetres for most adults. Use your own thumb, not a ruler, because the measure scales to your body.
• Land in the soft hollow. You should finish in soft tissue just above and inside the crease where the thigh meets the trunk, not on bone and not in the crease itself.
• Check for the pulse first. In the middle of the groin crease you can often feel a strong beat, the femoral artery. SP13 is not on that beat. If you feel a pulse under your fingers, slide outwards or upwards until you no longer do.

Landmarks beat numbers. The agreed description is "lateral lower abdomen, just above the inguinal (groin) crease". If your count puts you on the hip bone or down on the thigh, you have gone too far out or too low.

The point exists on both sides of the body. Most people find it easier to locate with the fingers of the same-side hand while the knee on that side is dropped outwards, which relaxes the belly wall.

How do you apply pressure to SP13?

1. Empty your bladder first. SP13 is a lower-abdomen point and pressing on a full bladder is uncomfortable and pointless. Wait at least an hour after a large meal too.
2. Lie down and soften the belly. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat, or with a pillow under the knees. A relaxed abdominal wall lets you find the soft hollow instead of pushing against tensed muscle.
3. Check for a pulse. Rest two fingers flat on the spot for a few seconds. If you feel a clear throb, move your fingers slightly outwards or upwards before pressing.
4. Press flat, not sharp. Use the pads of two or three fingers, kept flat, rather than a thumb tip or a knuckle. Press straight in towards the back of the body.
5. Go to mild, not to pain. Aim for a firm, slightly dull or heavy feeling, around three or four out of ten. Abdominal tissue is soft, so far less force is needed than on a shoulder or a foot.
6. Hold and breathe. Hold steady for about thirty seconds to a minute, breathing out slowly as you press. Small slow circles are fine if a static hold feels awkward.
7. Rest, then repeat. Release for a few breaths, then repeat two or three times per side. Do both sides if you want, one after the other rather than at once.
8. Keep sessions short. Two or three short sessions a day is plenty. There is no benefit to grinding away at it for ten minutes.

Stop immediately if you feel sharp pain, a pulse under your fingertips, a bulge that was not there before, nausea, dizziness, or pain that spreads into the back, groin or testicle. Stop also if the skin reddens and stays sore afterwards.

This is finger pressure on intact skin only. Never try to needle, burn, cup or scrape this area yourself.

What is SP13 traditionally used for?

• Cramping lower abdominal pain. This is the main classical use: gripping or twisting pain low in the belly. No trial has tested SP13 for abdominal pain, so any relief you notice could equally come from lying down, warmth and slow breathing.
• Groin and lower abdominal swellings. Older texts describe SP13 for "shan" disorders, a broad category that includes what we would now call hernias and painful groin swellings. Modern medicine treats a hernia as a mechanical problem; pressure cannot reduce one, and a bulge in the groin needs a doctor, not a point.
• Sluggish bowels. Tradition links the Spleen channel to digestion and uses lower abdominal points for constipation and distension. Research here is limited to general abdominal massage and acupressure protocols that do not isolate SP13, so the point itself is untested.
• Period cramps. Some modern practitioners add SP13 to a lower abdomen routine for painful periods. The better evidence in this area, such as it is, concerns SP6 above the ankle, and even those trials are small and unblinded. Nothing supports SP13 specifically.
• General belly tension. Slow, gentle pressure with long out-breaths tends to settle guarding in the abdominal wall. That is a plausible, modest effect of touch and breathing rather than a channel-specific action.

What you should take from this list is the gap between the first half of each line and the second. Tradition gives SP13 a clear job description. Human research has simply not looked at whether it does that job.

None of these uses is a reason to delay a diagnosis. New, severe or changing lower abdominal pain needs a proper assessment, because the same area can produce appendicitis, ovarian problems, a trapped hernia and urinary infections.

Are there tips for using SP13 effectively?

• Warm your hands first. Cold fingers on the lower belly make the muscles tighten and guard, which hides the soft hollow you are looking for. Rub your palms together for a few seconds before you start.
• Let the knee fall outwards. Dropping the knee on the side you are working relaxes the hip flexor and the lower abdominal wall. The landmark becomes much easier to feel.
• Use the out-breath. Sink your fingers in slowly as you breathe out and hold the depth as you breathe in. This gives better contact than pushing against a tensing belly.
• Compare the two sides. Pressing lightly on both sides tells you what is normal for you. A spot that is suddenly far more tender on one side only is worth mentioning to a doctor rather than working harder on.
• Add warmth instead of force. A covered hot water bottle or warm pack over the lower abdomen is a gentler way to settle cramping than digging in. Keep it warm, not hot, and never use a heat source directly on skin.
• Keep a short note. Write down when you pressed, for how long, and what changed over the next hour. Two weeks of notes will tell you more than any claim on a video.
• Treat it as one part of a routine. Gentle walking, regular meals, fibre and fluids do more for a sluggish, crampy gut than any single point. Use SP13 as a comfort step inside that, not instead of it.
• Give it a fair but finite trial. If a couple of weeks of sensible use changes nothing, stop. Persisting with something that is not working costs you time you could spend on a treatment that does.

What do people get wrong with SP13?

• Expecting a cure. Finger pressure on SP13 will not fix a hernia, clear constipation caused by disease, or treat the reason your lower abdomen hurts. Expecting that leads people to delay real care.
• Pressing on the pulse. The femoral artery runs through the middle of the groin crease and should never be pressed hard or held. If you feel a beat under your fingers, you are in the wrong place.
• Confusing it with SP12. SP12 (Chongmen) sits lower, right in the groin crease beside that artery. SP13 is slightly above it. Drifting down into the crease puts you on the wrong point and over the vessels.
• Using a thumb tip or a tool. Sharp, concentrated pressure on soft abdominal tissue bruises easily. Flat finger pads spread the load and are just as effective.
• Pressing a bulge. If a lump in the groin appears when you cough or stand and disappears when you lie down, that may be a hernia. Pushing on it is not a treatment and can cause harm.
• Working through sharp pain. People assume soreness means the point is "active". Sharp, stabbing or spreading pain in this area is a signal to stop, not a sign of progress.
• Treating undiagnosed pain for weeks. Lower abdominal pain has many serious causes. Using acupressure as the only response to pain that is new, worsening or waking you at night is the most dangerous mistake on this list.
• Assuming old equals safe. The point's long history says nothing about whether it is safe for your body today, especially in pregnancy or after surgery.

What does the research on SP13 actually say?

No useful human research on SP13 was found. There are no controlled trials, and as far as published work goes the point has not been studied on its own for abdominal pain, constipation, period pain or anything else.

That absence is normal rather than suspicious. Trials tend to cluster on a handful of heavily used points. PC6 on the inner wrist for nausea and vomiting is the clearest example of a point with genuinely decent human evidence, including controlled trials in pregnancy sickness and after surgery. SP13 has nothing comparable, and claiming otherwise would be dishonest.

Where SP13 does appear, it is usually as one item in a multi-point protocol in a small study of abdominal massage or acupressure. Those designs cannot tell you what any single point contributed. They are also typically small, short, and unblinded, meaning participants knew they were being treated, which reliably inflates reported improvement in symptoms like pain and bloating.

Some published trials of lower abdominal points use needling rather than finger pressure. Reporting that is fair, because it is what those studies did. It does not transfer. A needling result cannot be assumed to apply to pressing with your fingertips, and this library never describes needling technique.

What this means in practice is simple. Treat SP13 as a traditional point with no proven effect. If gentle pressure feels soothing and you use it alongside proper diagnosis and treatment, that is a reasonable thing to do. If you are choosing between it and medical assessment for lower abdominal pain, there is no evidence on SP13's side of that scale.