Liver Channel or Meridian

The Liver channel describes where your Liver acupuncture meridian runs. Many parts of its pathway are reached via Liver acupuncture points. In other places the channel runs deep inside your body and is affected by points on other channels. (Click to find out about acupuncture points.)

At least two of the most used and important points in regular use lie on it. However, the Liver being so important for health in Chinese medicine, a case could be made for some of its other points too. The Liver often figures in acupuncture for depression, for example.

For what the Liver does in Chinese medicine, click on Liver functions.

If you are more interested in how in Chinese medicine the Liver mis-functions click on Liver syndromes.

For points along the Liver channel, click below:

Liver Channel pathway

The pathway shown by acupuncture points in red in the picture is only half the picture. Like all acupuncture channels, the Liver channel also has internal branches.

The Primary channel of the Liver is bilateral and

• starts near the lateral side of the big toenail. It runs up the top (dorsum) of the foot to the ankle and then up the inside (medial) side of the leg (where it connects with Spleen 6), knee and thigh to the groin
• in the groin it meets Spleen channel points 12 and 13, then circles round the genitals from where …
• … it enters the lower half of the abdomen, connecting with Conception channel vessel points 2, 3 and 4.
• From there the Liver channel ascends within the abdomen, touches the stomach organ and enters the liver and gall-bladder organs from where …
• it ascends through the diaphragm and then diffuses itself through the lateral lower chest and hypochondriac region (the area under and inferior to the lower ribs on either side)
• from there it ascends to the neck and back of the throat and then connects with tissues round the eyes …
• to the forehead and vertex (top of the head), there meeting the Governor channel at Gov.20
• from the area round the eyes a branch descends through the cheeks and circles round the inside lips of the mouth
• another Liver channel branch separates from the liver organ and ascends into the lungs …
• … eventually joining with the first point on the Lung channel, Lung 1, Zhongfu.

Connecting and part of the Liver channel …

The Liver luo-connecting channel commences from Liver 5 on the lower leg, connects to the Gallbladder channel and ascends to the genitals.

The Liver Divergent channel starts from the area of Liver 1 on the big toe and ascends to the pubic area. There it converges with the Gall Bladder primary channel.

Summary of Liver channel connections

From this you can see that the Liver channel has connections with various organs and locations, including the

• gallbladder
• liver
• lungs
• stomach,

and directly connects with the

• low abdomen,
• costal and hypochondriac region,
• vertex,
• eyes,
• cheeks,
• back of the throat,
• inside lips of the mouth and
• genitals.

Any of these organs or areas of the body may be affected when Liver qi or Liver Blood is out of balance. For example, when you accidentally bite the cheeks inside your mouth, probably your Liver zang wasn’t working quite right!

Other pages you may like:

• Acupuncture channels – do they exist?
• What is Acupuncture Good for?
• How does acupuncture work?
• Acupuncture Benefits
• Yin and/or Yang: concepts for stable wisdom
• TCM Theory
• Reading List