Chongyang

What is ST42?

ST42 (Chongyang) is a Stomach-channel point on the top of the foot, at the highest part of the instep, where a pulse can often be felt.

Its name means "surging yang", a reference to that pulse. In classical Chinese medicine ST42 is the yuan-source point of the Stomach channel, which made it a point practitioners used to judge the state of the stomach and spleen. Old texts also had physicians feel this pulse to gauge how strong a patient was.

Tradition links ST42 to poor appetite, bloating, stomach upset, toothache and facial muscle weakness, plus pain and weakness in the foot itself. Those uses come from centuries of written practice, not from modern testing.

Two things worth saying once, up front, so the rest of this page can get on with the detail. First, long traditional standing is not evidence that a point works; a claim repeated for two thousand years is still a claim. Second, traditional standing is not evidence that a point is safe either, because the texts were not written with modern safety testing in mind.

The honest verdict on evidence: there is essentially no human research testing finger pressure on ST42 for anything. What exists is general acupressure research on other points, mostly small, short and unblinded. Nothing here supports a cure, and nobody should swap medical care for pressing a foot.

One practical note that matters more for ST42 than for most points. The dorsalis pedis artery, a main blood supply to the foot, runs directly under this spot. That is exactly why the point is named as it is. It also means this is a point to press gently and briefly, not to dig into, and a point that some people should skip altogether. Who those people are is set out further down the page.

Everything described here is self-applied finger pressure. No needles, no heat therapy, nothing that breaks the skin.

Where is ST42 and how do you find it?

ST42 sits on the top of the foot, in the dip between the second and third long foot bones, at the highest part of the instep where a pulse can often be felt.

• Sit so you can reach your foot. Rest the foot on the opposite knee, or sit on the floor with the knee bent. You need to feel lightly, so an awkward stretch will not work.
• Find the ankle crease first. Flex your foot upward. A crease appears across the front of the ankle, between the two ankle bones. The point ST41 sits in the hollow in the middle of that crease.
• Move down onto the instep. From that ankle hollow, slide about 1.3 cun toward the toes. For most adults that is roughly two thumb-widths, or around 3 to 4 cm, onto the high arch of the top of the foot.
• Feel for the gap between bones. Run a fingertip toward the toes along the second and third long foot bones (metatarsals). ST42 lies in the groove between them, where they meet the mid-foot bones.
• Confirm with the pulse. Rest a fingertip lightly in that groove and wait. Many people feel a soft beat here, the dorsalis pedis artery. That pulse is the classic marker for ST42, although not everyone can feel it.
• Check what you are on. The right spot feels like a slight hollow with a tendon nearby, not like hard bone and not like the knuckle of a toe joint.

If you cannot feel the pulse, do not hunt for it with hard pressure. Take the groove between the second and third metatarsals, about two thumb-widths down from the ankle crease, and accept that as close enough.

What is agreed across sources is the instep location and the artery. Exact wording about which bone junction counts varies, so keep your touch broad and light rather than trying to hit a pinpoint.

How do you apply pressure to ST42?

1. Clean and settle first. Wash your hands, keep nails short, and sit somewhere you can hold the foot comfortably for a minute or two.
2. Locate lightly. Place the pad of your thumb or index finger in the groove on the instep. Let the finger rest there before you add any pressure.
3. Notice the pulse. If you feel a beat under the fingertip, you are over the artery. Shift your contact a few millimetres to either side so the pressure falls beside the vessel rather than squashing it.
4. Press gently. Use light to moderate pressure only. Aim for a sense of firm contact or mild dullness, never sharp pain and never enough to blanch the skin for long.
5. Hold briefly. Thirty to sixty seconds is plenty at ST42. Breathe normally through the hold rather than bracing.
6. Release and repeat. Ease off, wait a few seconds, then repeat two or three times. You can also make small slow circles instead of a static hold.
7. Do the other foot if you wish. Most people work both sides, though there is no rule requiring it.
8. Keep sessions short. Two or three times a day is more than enough. There is no benefit in grinding away at it for ten minutes.

Stop at once if you get pins and needles, numbness, shooting pain, or if the foot or toes look pale, blue or dusky. Those are signs you are pressing on a nerve or restricting blood flow, and neither is useful.

Stop also if the area is sore the next day. Tenderness that lingers means the pressure was too hard, not that it is working.

This is finger pressure only. Do not use sharp tools, pointed pressure pens, or anything that could break the skin on the top of the foot, where healing is often slower than people expect.

What is ST42 traditionally used for?

• Poor appetite and stomach discomfort. As the yuan-source point of the Stomach channel, ST42 was used in tradition for weak appetite, bloating and nausea. No human trial has tested finger pressure on ST42 for these complaints. If nausea is your main concern, PC6 on the inner wrist is the point with real controlled trial support, including for pregnancy sickness and post-operative nausea, and it is a more sensible place to start.
• Pain in the instep and foot. Classical texts list ST42 for swelling and pain on the top of the foot and for weakness in lifting the foot. Gentle pressure near a sore spot can feel soothing in the moment, which is a general effect of touch rather than anything specific to this point. There is no good trial evidence for lasting relief.
• Toothache and facial complaints. Because the Stomach channel runs across the face in traditional mapping, ST42 was used for upper toothache, facial swelling and facial muscle weakness. Human evidence for this is absent. Dental pain needs a dentist, not a foot point.
• Weakness after stroke. ST42 sometimes appears inside multi-point needling protocols for foot drop in stroke rehabilitation research. Those studies test the whole protocol, so nothing can be concluded about this one point, and none of it tells us about finger pressure.
• Low mood and agitation. Some classical listings include restlessness and disordered mood. There is no modern human research supporting ST42 for mental health, and nothing here should replace proper care.

The fair summary is that ST42 has a strong traditional pedigree and a near-empty modern evidence file. Most people use it as a mild self-care habit alongside ordinary treatment, which is a reasonable way to approach it.

Expect comfort at best. Do not expect a condition to resolve because you pressed your instep.

Are there tips for using ST42 effectively?

• Work beside the pulse, not on it. If you feel a beat under your fingertip, move a few millimetres sideways. ST42 is defined by the artery, but you do not need to compress the artery to contact the point.
• Warm the foot first. A warm foot is easier to read with your fingers, and the tendons and hollows are easier to tell apart. A warm shower or a minute of rubbing is enough.
• Use the pad, not the tip. The flat pad of the thumb spreads pressure across the area. A nail or a fingertip digs into a narrow spot and is far more likely to hurt.
• Keep it short and repeat it. Several brief sessions across a day beat one long grinding session. The top of the foot bruises more easily than people assume.
• Check your footwear. If the instep is sore, a tight laced shoe or a high-pressure strap is a likelier cause than anything channel-related. Loosening the laces may do more than the point will.
• Keep a simple note. Write down what you pressed, when, and how you felt afterwards for a couple of weeks. Self-care effects are easy to misremember, and a note keeps you honest.
• Pair it with the basics. For digestive comfort, meal timing, fibre, hydration and sleep all have far better evidence than any acupressure point. Use ST42 as an add-on, not a substitute.
• Stop at any sharp sensation. Sharp, electric or radiating feelings mean a nerve, not a result. Ease off and move your contact point.

One more practical tip: if you have reduced feeling in your feet for any reason, you are not a good judge of how hard you are pressing. In that case, skip the point rather than guessing.

What do people get wrong with ST42?

• Expecting a cure. This is the biggest one. No acupressure point cures digestive disease, toothache or nerve damage, and any video promising that is selling something.
• Pressing hard on the artery. The pulse at ST42 is a landmark, not a target. Heavy sustained pressure directly over a blood vessel is uncomfortable and pointless.
• Landing on bone. Many people press on the hard shaft of a metatarsal instead of the groove between two of them. If it feels like a solid ridge, slide sideways into the dip.
• Confusing it with ST41. ST41 is up in the ankle crease, between the two ankle bones. ST42 is further down, out on the instep. They are different points and get mixed up constantly.
• Working an inflamed joint. A hot, red, swollen joint near the base of the toes may be gout or infection. Pressing it makes it worse and delays the right treatment.
• Going too hard for too long. More pressure is not more effect. Bruising on the top of the foot is easy to cause and slow to clear.
• Using tools that break skin. Pointed gadgets, scrapers and anything sharp have no place here. This page describes finger pressure only.
• Ignoring a new foot symptom. Treating fresh swelling, numbness or a colour change as something to massage away is a real risk. Those signs need assessment, not pressure.
• Dropping real treatment. People occasionally skip medication or a dental appointment while trying a point. That trade is never worth it.

A final one: assuming that soreness means it is working. Tenderness at ST42 usually just means you pressed too hard.

What does the research on ST42 actually say?

There is no useful human research on ST42 specifically. We found no controlled trial, and no decent observational study, testing finger pressure on Chongyang for digestive symptoms, foot pain, facial complaints or anything else.

That absence is not unusual. Of the several hundred classical points, only a handful have been studied on their own. PC6 and nausea is the clearest example of a point with repeated controlled human trials behind it. ST42 is nowhere near that position.

Where ST42 does appear in the research literature, it is almost always as one point among many inside a larger needling protocol, for example in stroke rehabilitation or foot-drop studies. Those trials test the package, not the point. Even where such a protocol shows a benefit, there is no way to work out whether ST42 contributed anything at all. They also used needles, which tells us nothing about what a thumb can do.

The wider acupressure evidence base has well-known limits that apply here. Most trials are small, run for a short time, and cannot blind participants, because people know whether someone is pressing on them. Sham-controlled studies often show the real point and the fake point performing about the same, which points toward expectation and the general comfort of touch doing much of the work.

What that means for you is simple. ST42 has not been shown to do anything specific, and it has not been shown to be useless either; it has mostly not been tested. Treat it as a low-cost self-care habit with a long traditional history and a thin evidence file.

If you try it, judge it on your own experience over a few weeks, and keep your expectations modest. If a symptom matters enough that you are searching for a point for it, it matters enough to mention to a doctor.