The position of Xuehai(SP10) is clear

but its locating method is vague

resulting in the disunity of clinical application and even possibly affecting the curative effect. Also

when learning the meridians and acupoints

the beginners are often confused by this issue possibly due to:(1) when the bone-length proportional measurement combined with anatomic symbol(combination method) was adopted

it is not clear that the patient should take a posture of knee extension or knee flexion;(2) when the combination method used

it is difficult to find the highest point of muscle eminence in the case of patient with thin vastus medialis muscle and fuzzy body surface projection;(3)the simple method for locating SP10 is widely used at present

can it replace the combination method to locate this acupoint accurately?Guided by these questions

we

in the present paper

reviewed the rela-ted textbooks

works and other literature to explore the standard position of SP10

and the standard and simple methods for locating this acupoint. Comprehending various opinions

we hold that SP10 should be positioned under the extended knee posture

then

the acupoint's horizontal ordinate “2 cun superior to the medial end of the base of the patella” is determined by using bone-length proportional measurement to measure 2 cun from the bottom to the tip of the patella. Then

the body surface anatomic symbol method is used

when

the patient is asked to stretch the leg and contract the vastus medialis muscle

the highest spot of muscular eminence is the SP10. If the patient's muscular protuberance is not obvious

the middle line between the medial and lateral margins of the vastus medialis muscle is used as the vertical ordinate

and its intersection with the abscissa is SP10. The simple method is easy in operation and has a reference value

but may frequently produce errors

hence

it is not a substitution for the combination method.