Today, I wanted to share with you the 15 most effective acupuncture points to clear Heat, because let’s face it, there many acupuncture points that can clear excess HEAT, so I choose the best ones!

First, let’s establish a foundational understanding of Excess Heat in Chinese medicine, which can manifest in two primary forms: acute and chronic.

Acute Excess Heat 🔥🔥🔥

This typically arises when external pathogen Heat, often accompanied by Wind, Dampness, or Dryness, invade the body. Recognizable symptoms include fever (commonly associated with viral or bacterial infections, flu…), an unquenchable thirst for cold drinks, heightened irritability, sleep disturbances, a rapid and superficial pulse, and a yellow-coated tongue.

Chronic Excess Heat 🔥

In contrast, chronic Excess Heat can affect various organs, particularly the TCM Liver, Heart, Stomach, or Lung. Key indicators of this TCM pattern encompass persistent feelings of warmth, excessive sweating, a constant desire for cold beverages, smelly stools, irritability, a bitter taste in the mouth, a red tongue with a yellow coating, and a pulse that is both rapid and full/large.

In this video, I look at the difference between Excess Heat & Yin Deficiency Heat, between HEAT & FIRE in Chinese medicine, and the causes of excess Heat. Furthermore, I share my insights into the 15 most effective acupuncture points for addressing Excess Heat in clinical practice.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Did I miss any points that you absolutely adore for cooling things down? Share your wisdom with in the comments below 🔥

Stay cool! 😉
Clara
TCM Geek

PS: If you want more, learn the Acupuncture Approaches to Managing Rheumatoid Arthritis, and make sure to check out Dampness versus Phlegm in Chinese Medicine! And if you haven’t invested in my book AcuPoints Made Easy, get your copy here! 🙏

The 15 Most EFFECTIVE Acupuncture Points to Clear HEAT!

Studies on Acupuncture for Excess Heat Syndromes

Recent studies have shown that acupuncture can have a profound effect on conditions like upper respiratory tract infections and asthma.

Studies have also shown acupuncture effectiveness in inflammatory diseases, or post cancer radiation side effects (which always creates excess heat).

Large Intestine 11 is the BEST acupuncture point to Clear Heat!

Stomach 44 is the BEST acupuncture point to Clear FIRE!

The 15 Most Effective Acupuncture Points to Clear Heat
Video Transcript

Today, I’m diving into the 15 most effective acupuncture point for clearing heat. Heat manifests in various ways in the body and as practitioners it’s really important to discern between excess heat and deficiency heat or Ying deficiency. It’s not just about needling points, it’s also about understanding the underlying imbalances and applying our knowledge to promote balance and well being for all our patients.

The key differences between Excess Heat and Deficiency Heat 

I’m going to guide you through the key differences between Excess Heat, Deficiency Heat and Yin Deficiency. Then, we’ll dive into the 15 most effective acupuncture points for clearing heat and their use in clinical practice. When we go back to foundation, that the basis of everything is the Yin Yang Theory. If you haven’t seen my video all on the Yin Yang Theory and understanding the differences, go check it out. However, today I wanted to talk about the specifics between Yang excess, which is Excess Heat and Yin Deficiency, which is Deficiency Heat. It’s really important to understand the key differences in the symptoms. So, it’s more of a tonifying versus excess heat, it’s more of a clearing so it’s a very different treatment; however, some acupuncture points can do both to clear excess heat and nourish Yin deficiency.

Excess Heat

Now, let’s start with Excess Heat. Excess Heat is manifesting as acute or chronic, so acute would be a fever, would be having an infection. When chronic (which is what we see mostly in clinical practice) it’s red face red tongue with a yellow coat on it a full strong rapid pulse. Often, there is a person that feels hot during the day, sweats easily when they’re hot, they have tendency to have constipation with smelly stools–because heat dries fluid. And, when the bowel movement is large and full bowel movement it will be smelly which is excess heat as well.

Also, the person may be very irritable or angry easily, right? Like a volcano with lots of anger coming out, that could come in. Insomnia could come in as well, which would be Excess Heat would be the insomnia where we don’t sleep at all or we wake up during the night and we cannot fall asleep as in Liver Fire, for example.

Yin Deficiency

Now when it comes to Yin deficiency, it is going to be smaller symptoms so for example with Excess Heat and Yin deficiency, the person is really thirsty, specifically for cold drinks because they want to cool off. With Excess Heat, the person will gulp a lot of fluid. With Ying deficiency, the person will sip the fluid all day. So now let’s see big versus small. The Ying deficiency person would have red cheeks, and the Yang excess would had red face, and the Yin deficiency person would also have constipation, but when they have a bowel movement it will be little pebbles, little beads or little sheep Pebbles.

The differences between the Excess Heat, which has large formed bowel movement or stools that makes sense. The person with Yin deficiency because Yin is night time will be hot at night with night sweats. While the Yang Excess in daytime the person will sweat easily during the day and feel hot during the day. The Yin deficiency will have a thin rapid pulse. It’s still rapid because there’s heat, but it’s very thin because of the deficiency. Compared to the Yang excess, the pulse is large, big, full and rapid. The tongue of a Yin deficiency will be red, just like the excess heat; however, the Yin deficiency will have a crack tongue no coat.

Yang Excess

Meanwhile, the Yang excess will have a yellow coat so see there’s a lot of differences here so it’s really important to make the key different symptoms for a treatment, however because Chinese medicine is always complicated it’s never just anything is one way. It can someone have Yin Deficiency Heat and Excess Heat (yes, they can) and that’s very common with Liver. A lot of people have Liver Yang Rising or Liver Fire and they also have Liver Yin Deficiency at the same time. When that happens we can combine our treatment and usually we clear the excess heat first and then we nourish the Yin you can do it at the same time.

If you want to clear the Heat, first do it with acupuncture and then nourish Yin with diet. That is a good idea as well when we do treatment. Does that make sense?

The 15 Most Effective Points for Excess Heat 🔥

I wanted to share a story with you. When I grew up, my mom had Excess Heat and Ying Deficiency around her menopausal symptoms. She had the night sweats, she was tossing and turning all night. She’d be very irritable, very angry all the time because she was stressed. So there was a lot of bursts. Although I loved my mother, sometimes it was really scary because she had a loud voice and I’m very sensitive.

As a child, I was very sensitive. That was always a tough balance for us to navigate. My mom had a strong personality and I was very sensitive and I would cry easily when she had the big loud voice. Another thing that my mom did was she smoked two packs of cigarettes per day (yep) and so she had a lot of heartburn and acid reflex.

Diagnosing my mom

When I told her it was because she smoked and it affected her esophagus she said, “No, it has nothing to do with this.”

So she had a lot of stomach heat coming up, which is very common, right? Stomach Heat is heartburn, acid reflux, bad breath, acid, regurgitation. Those symptoms come up from Stomach Heat when there’s a lot of acidity. Smoking can lead to that as well.

We can also have Lung heat. Lung heat is very common as well which is to cough. We can cough phlegm that is thick and green or yellow. That is Excess Heat or phlegm Heat in the Lung. We can have like I said earlier, Liver Yang Rising, Liver Fire with lots of anger, irritability, temporal headaches that feel better on the cold compress. That is Excess Heat in the Liver. We can have a lot of heat in different organs. For example, Large Intestine Heat when there is constipation with stools that are large. We can have Damp Heat which creates diarrhea with smelling stool as well.

There’s lots of heat that can affect different organs. Those are the most common ones we see in clinical practice.

Effective acupuncture points to clear Excess Heat

Let’s dive in those beautiful effective acupuncture points to clear excess heat and how to differentiate them so we know which one to use best in clinical practice. Let’s start with the best point to clear Heat anywhere in the body which is: Large Intestine 11.

Large Intestine 11

Large intestine 11 is fantastic because it will clear heat for acute or chronic disorders. Acute is like fever, infection, hives, sore throat. It is also chronic for people that have excess heat or inflammation in the body, which can show up as a lot of irritability. Like we said earlier, with smelly stools, with inflammation anywhere in the body. That comes up sometimes as feeling out of control, getting really angry, getting really rageful. Usually those people end up having bowel issues like diarrhea when they get really angry. Large Intestine 11 is a ghost point and if you haven’t seen my Ghost Point video yet, check it out.

Large intestine 11 is my favorite point for this, but I’m going to give you a little Caution. ⚠️ It’s located at the elbow crease at the end of the lateral elbow crease. A lot of people use it when there is tendonitis which is fine. Or, lateral epicondylitis which is fine if the symptoms of the pain are pain that is relieved with a cold compress or that is worse on heat, right? However, if the pain is due to blood deficiency or it’s been there for a long time and the person has numbness, tingling that’s traveling down the forearm or the extensors that is not the best point to use. Because there is blood deficiency and if the person says I put heat on it and it feels better, you do not want to clear the heat.

So we do not want to use Large Intestine 11 in this case we can use the points on the extensors like Large Intestine 10, 9, 8 and anything around it. Does that make sense? That’s why it’s really important to do a diagnosis even when it comes to pain.

Spleen 10

Spleen 10 is fantastic to clear heat from the blood. When there is blood heat, it affects mostly the Pericardium and the Liver. So what happens, we can use it for menstruation when there’s heavy bleeding with pain or cramps. That’s usually Blood Heat with Blood Stasis in the Liver. That is a really good point to use when it comes to menstruation. It’s also a great point to combine with Large intestine 11 when there are a lot of hives, or heat affecting the skin, even eczema.

Spleen 10 works really well, so I love to use that point for that perspective. Remember in TCM or in the Five Element Theory the Earth generates Metal or the Spleen and Stomach generates Lung and Large Intestine, which are connected to the Skin. When there is hives it’s great to use large intestine 11 point and also Spleen 10.

Stomach 44

Stomach 44 is the best point to clear Fire. How do we know the difference between Heat and Fire? Think about this: Fire is worse than Heat. Make sense? When there is Heat (we talked about all the symptoms of excess Heat) Fire is the same. There is exactly the same symptoms; however, there is an amplification and the symptom that is added is bleeding. Fire moves and rushes the blood, so there’s excess bleeding or abnormal bleeding. Symptoms could be red bloodshot red eyes, heavy menstruation, blood in the urine, or blood in the stools or nose bleeds. When there is bleeding, vomiting blood, bleeding ulcers in the stomach or bleeding gums–anything that is bleeding with excess heat symptoms is going to be Fire.

As well as, when there is Fire the tongue is much more dry and there is strawberry prickles on the top. Strawberry prickles if you don’t know what that is, you can watch my video on the tongue.

When it comes to Stomach 44, I love that point specifically for stomach issues, acid reflex, regurgitation, bad breath, bleeding gums and also for vomiting. If it’s chunky, sour pieces in the vomit (I know that sounds really gross), but watery vomit is due to excess cold. Chunky pieces is due to excess Heat. Let’s not mix them together. Stomach 44 fantastic also because it clears Fire it brings the Fire down and allows the person to calm down. It’s great if the person has lots of dreams at night, is manic or has a lot of Excess Fire that brings them into a rage or a state of manic Behavior. Make sense?

Stomach 44 is a fantastic point.

Heart 5

I think that Heart 5 is misunderstood or it’s not used enough in clinical practice. Heart 5 is the Luo Connecting Point of the Heart to the Small Intestine and because of that, it is really a good point to use when there is interstitial cystitis. Remember that the Small Intestine in TCM is in charge of separating the clear from the turbid for water metabolism to come out as urination. It is more related to fluids than solids. If there is a bladder infection we can look at the Bladder in TCM. Damp Heat in the Bladder or Heat in the Bladder, but if there is a inflammation like in cystitis then we have to look at the Small Intestine. Heart 5 is a great point specifically combined with Liver 5 and Large intestine 11 because it clears heat which is perfect when it comes to Interstitial cystitis.

Heart 8

AcuPoint Heart 8 is a Yin Spring point and pretty much all Yin Spring points will clear heat. Heart 8 is really good for hysteria. When people get into a manic or hysteric behavior they have a lot of Excess Fire. It cools that mind, it calms the mind, brings the Fire down. Also remember that the Heart opens into the tongue, so if there’s canker sores or bleeding canker sores in the tongue this is a really good point for that as well.

The difference between mouth sores and tongue sores is the Stomach opens into the mouth. If sores are in the cheeks or in the mouth that’s Stomach Heat Fire. If they are on the tongue that’s more of Heart. Does that make sense? This is how we distinguish the key symptoms.

Kidney 1

When we make a diagnosis and that leads to better treatment Kidney 1 has to be there. Kidney 1 is the most grounding point on the body. Kidney 1 is great because it does both. It helps with Yin deficiency and it clears heat for excess Heat, excess Fire specifically for people that feel scattered brain and cannot ground themself. On top of it, they have a tendency to be very irritable and have insomnia, but that’s the kind of insomnia where they are tired, they want to fall asleep, they’re exhausted, but they cannot sleep. If you combine Kidney 1 with DUO 20 to help patients that cannot fall asleep even though they’re very tired, it’s a perfect combination.

Kidney 2

The highest point in the body with the lowest point in the body, perfect for a great night sleep. Works like a charm: Kidney 2. Kidney 2 is another Yin Spring point and they are part of the 5 SHU Transporting Points if you haven’t seen my video on the 5 SHU Transporting Points check it out. It’s one of my most popular videos.

Now the Yin Spring point like I said before clears Heat. Kidney 2 is really good when it is for coughing blood, specifically combined with with Lung 6 which is a Xi Cleft point of the Lung which is great for bleeding and coughing blood. Those two combined Lung 6 and Kidney 2 are great for coughing blood; however, we need to figure out why the person is coughing blood. We need to look for the root cause, but it can help for sure.

Now the second thing, if there is very heavy menstruation bleeding, abnormal bleeding with uterus prolapse Kidney 2 is a good point because it is related to the reproductive system. Make sense? Kidney 2 is great when it comes to smelly diarrhea because as we said earlier that’s an excess Heat. You combine it with Spleen 9, Gallbladder 34 and Large Intestine 11 and it’s fantastic. You can also do the Digestive Diamond which is Ren 6, Ren 9 and Stomach 25. That is a good combo when it comes to smelly diarrhea.

Acupuncture Point to Clear Heat: Bladder 65

I think that Bladder 65 is also underutilized. It’s a great point to help detoxify after an insect bite. Bladder 65 helps to body release its natural antihistamine to try to fight that insect bite, so I think that’s a great point that’s underutilized. For acute issues, for chronic issues it’s great to calm the mind when there’s a lot of confusion. Let’s say for people that have Alzheimer’s with Excess Heat. Do not use it if the person’s very deficient. Makes sense? Always use the right point for the right patient.

By the way, if you’re enjoying my graphics right now and you haven’t got your copy of my AcuPoints Made Easy yet this is your time. There is the PDF and there is the Hard Copy they contain exactly the same points which are 365 with all my Graphics. It took me two years to make. I’m so proud of it and so many students and practitioners have used it for the last three years and the feedback has been amazing. So get your copy if you haven’t done that today because you are going to love it.

Acupuncture Point to Clear Heat: Pericardium 8

I choose two points that are located on the palm unfortunately Heart 8 and Pericardium 8. I know they’re not easy to needle, but they work so well. Specifically when it comes to mental health and Pericardium 8 is a ghost point which is really good for paranoia and hallucination specifically due to Excess Heat, including hysteria. Those are really good to calm the mind and it’s used for incontrollable laughter which often comes from phlegm, heat misting the mind because the person is laughing, but there is nothing funny and they can’t stop laughing, very loud out loud. This could also come into a disorder like Schizophrenia.

Pericardium 8 is perfect for that as well as paranoia if there is Excess Heat.

Acupuncture Point to Clear Heat: Liver 2

That’s an easy one it brings the Liver Yang down, right? When there is Liver Qi Stagnation, if someone has a lot of stress their button is going to be pushed, pushed, pushed. And the volcano effect happens and there’s a burst of anger, irritability–specifically women at PMS time. When their Qi is stagnated because they’re super stressed and then they lash out and they’re moody (oh boy watch out!)

So Liver 2 can also have temporal headache at the end of the day when the person is stressed and definitely irritability anger. Also waking up between 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. which is the Liver time. Liver 2 is a really good point to bring the Liver Yang down and calm the Mind.

 Liver 5

AcuPoint Liver 5 is a LUO Connecting Point. Like I said earlier when I was talking about Heart 5 as a LUO Connecting Point, this one connects the Liver to the Gallbladder. However, also the LUO collateral ends up around the external genitalia. It’s really a very good point when there is external genitalia issue, specifically swelling and heat in the testes, for example. Also for external genitalia outbreak like herpes. For people that have tendency–women specifically–to have a urinary tract infection after intercourse. That is the best point I use this, also for cystitis when it comes to inflammation. I combine that with Heart 5.

Gallbladder 43

Another Yin Spring point and this one is fantastic when it comes to migraines and headaches that are very hot to the touch and that feel better when you put a cold compress. That is the fantastic point for that. It’s also used for dizziness and vertigo when there is a lot of heat rising up to the head.

Gallbladder 44

A a Jing well point. So great for fever; however, it is used for dream disturbed sleep. When a person has a lot of nightmares and they have Excess Heat. This is the best point specifically combined with stomach 40.

Stomach 40

Stomach 40 clears phlegm when there are a lot of mind issues. When there is recurring nightmares there is definitely phlegm that’s affecting the Stomach and the Gallbladder. So Gallbladder 44 perfect for that. It’s also used to clear fire for vertigo and dizziness (as well just like Gallbladder 43) but a little bit stronger in carrying the fire and bringing it down.

Acupuncture Point to Clear Heat: DU 14

If you remember in the Channel Meridian Theory all Yang channels converge or pass through DU14 at C7. All the Yang meridians (six of them) converge there. It’s a hot bed for Yang, right? D14 is the best point to clear heat when it’s acute, specifically fever in children. What you can do is you can use cupping on the child’s DU 14 to try to release that fever. That works really well for fever, but also for Excess Heat affecting the person in an acute state. This is because it’s located in the upper part of the body. It’s really good for asthma due to excess heat cough but also the common cold due to wind heat. DU 14 great for acute heat in the body that creates fever.

There are many points when it comes to clearing heat. I wanted to give you the 15 most effective ones in clinical practice that I think are just fantastic. It doesn’t mean they’re the only ones, it just means that I really think they’re very useful.

If you haven’t seen my video on the 15 Most Effective Acupuncture Points to Calm the Mind check it out. You are going to love it.

I hope you have a fantastic day and no matter what keep rocking it using TCM! 🌷