Kunlun (BL60): The Outer Ankle Point for Low Back Pain and Stiff Ankles

Where Kunlun Sits

This point sits on the outer side of the ankle, in the soft hollow halfway between the highest point of the outer ankle bone and the heel tendon, usually a finger's width (1.5 to 2 cm) behind the bone.

This line is the longest on the traditional map. It begins at the inner corner of the eye, runs over the top of the head and down the back of the neck. Then it splits into two parallel tracks either side of the spine and runs down the whole length of the back. Both tracks cross the buttock, run down the back of the thigh, meet behind the knee, pass through the calf and come down behind the outer ankle to end at the little toe. Vietnamese and Chinese texts call it the Bladder channel. This hollow sits near the end of that long journey, the sixtieth of its sixty-seven stops.

The old texts place it in the depression between the highest point of the outer ankle bone and the heel tendon. No measurement is needed. The landmarks are bony and firm, and the point sits in the soft valley between them. Find the round bump on the outside of your ankle. Find the thick cord at the back of the ankle that runs to the heel. Halfway between them, level with the top of the bump, your fingertip sinks in.

Under the skin, two tendons curl around the back of the outer ankle bone on their way to the foot. They belong to the muscles on the outer side of the calf that turn the foot outward and steady the ankle on uneven ground. A Vietnamese reference text places the point in the groove beside those tendons, in front of the heel tendon. Deeper lies the ankle joint itself.

The nerve supply explains what you feel. The skin here is served by the sural nerve, a thin nerve that runs down the back of the calf, curves behind the outer ankle and carries feeling to the outer edge of the foot and the little toe. It carries fibres from the first sacral root of the spine, the same root that serves much of the back of the leg. A surface vein runs alongside it. A heavy press in the wrong spot can send a tingle along the outer foot. That feeling means move, not push harder.

Why This Spot

The hollow has firm walls on both sides, the ankle bone in front and the heel tendon behind. It is hard to lose. The tissue is thin. A small, firm tip reaches the sore spot without heavy force. And it can be worked from a chair, which matters a great deal for someone whose back makes bending difficult.

There is also a connection worth noticing. The nerve root that serves the skin here also serves the back of the thigh, the calf and part of the buttock. Pain that runs down the back of the leg often follows the same territory. That does not prove anything about how the point works. It does help explain why people with a sore back and leg so often find this hollow tender.

In this tradition the point carries a clear role. It is one of the main far points for the lower back. The idea is plain. A long channel can be reached at many places, and a point at the far end of a line is commonly used for complaints in the middle of it. Because this line runs down both sides of the spine, the hollow behind the outer ankle is one of the first places the tradition looks when the back aches and bending down to it is out of the question.

What the Old Texts Say About Kunlun

The name comes from a great mountain range of western China, in old writing the highest range in the world and the home of immortals. The outer ankle bone is the highest point of the foot when you look at it from the side. The name says the point sits at the foot of that summit. Names on the channel map were teaching aids, and this one tells students exactly where to look.

A Vietnamese reference text on the channels, by Ngô Trung Triều, lists the point for a swollen, painful ankle joint and the soft tissues around it, for pain along the course of the sciatic nerve, for low back pain, and for weakness of the leg. It also lists it among the points used at the end of childbirth, when the afterbirth is slow to come. That last use is the reason behind the tradition's firm caution: the point is avoided throughout pregnancy, and this method respects that without exception.

The same text gives a quick finding method that matches the one on this page: take the highest point of the outer ankle bone and the outer edge of the heel tendon, and the point lies in the dip between them. Generations of teachers have passed down the same instruction because it works. Two landmarks, one hollow, no counting.

In 2008 the World Health Organization published a single standard for point locations across the Western Pacific region, to settle disagreements between countries and schools. Its entry places this point on the back outer side of the ankle, in the depression between the prominence of the outer ankle bone and the heel tendon. The old description and the modern standard agree.

Points That Work With Kunlun

The closest partner is directly opposite, on the inner side of the same ankle. Find the inner ankle bone, slide straight back toward the heel tendon, and sink into the same kind of hollow. The two points face each other through the ankle, and you can hold both at once with thumb and middle finger. The inner point is commonly used for tired legs and broken nights; this outer one for the back and the ankle.

The second partner is higher on the same line, in the calf. Run a hand up the back of your lower leg from the heel. About halfway to the knee, the thick part of the calf muscle divides and leaves a small hollow in the middle where the muscle turns to tendon. It is commonly used for a tight calf and night cramps, and it pairs well with this ankle point when pain runs down the back of the leg.

The third sits behind the knee, in the middle of the crease at the back of the joint. It is one of the tradition's main points for the lower back, and working the knee and the ankle on the same line is a common combination when the back and leg ache together. Press it gently; there is less padding there than it seems.

How to Find and Press Kunlun

Getting Into Position

Sit on a firm chair. Rest one foot on a low stool, or cross it over the opposite knee if your hips allow, so the outer ankle is easy to reach and the foot hangs loose. If your back makes it hard to lean forward, sit side-on to a bed and rest the leg along the mattress instead. The foot must be relaxed. A tense foot pulls the tendons tight and hides the hollow.

How to Find It

Find the highest point of the outer ankle bone with a fingertip. Pinch the heel tendon lightly to feel where it is. Then slide your fingertip straight back from the top of the ankle bone toward the tendon. Halfway across, it drops into a soft dip.

That gives you the area, not yet the point. Now probe. Take a rounded-tip pressing tool, or the tip of your thumb with the nail cut short, and press small spots around the dip, a little higher, a little lower, nearer the bone, nearer the tendon. Most of it feels like ordinary pressure. One spot will sting: a sharp, pinpoint tenderness. That is the point. Probe fresh each session, because the sore spot can shift a few millimetres from day to day.

How to Press It

Keep the tip on the spot that stings and rub it in small, slow circles, no wider than a grain of rice, without lifting off. Aim slightly forward, toward the back of the ankle bone, rather than straight into the middle of the hollow where the thin nerve and vein run.

If you use your thumb, wrap your fingers around the front of the ankle and let the thumb tip circle. If you use a tool, hold it like a pen, close to the tip. To pair it with the inner ankle point, use a pincer grip, middle fingertip on the outside and thumb tip on the inside, circling both together.

How Much Pressure

Sharp under the tip is right. That pinpoint sting tells you that you are on the point, and it should fade within moments of lifting off. Pain that stays after you lift off is not right, nor is pain that spreads along the foot or up the leg, or an ankle that turns swollen, hot or red. Stop if any of those happen. Stop too for any electric, tingling or numb feeling along the outer edge of the foot; move the tip a little toward the bone and lighten. If you are holding your breath, ease off.

How Long

One to three minutes on each ankle. For the first few sessions keep to about a minute a side, because this hollow is often sorer than people expect. Over the following days, as the sting settles, work up toward two and then three minutes. Do both ankles, even when the back only aches on one side. Once or twice a day is plenty.

When to Do It

For a back that is stiff on waking, a session mid-morning, once you have moved about, suits well. For a back that tires through the day, a session in the late afternoon helps more than one after the ache has set in. A short round before bed also suits people who are woken in the night by an aching back or leg, as part of a calm routine: pass urine, sit on the edge of the bed, work both ankles, then lie down in a position that eases the back. What this method does not do is press in the middle of the night. If pain wakes you, change position, use whatever your doctor has advised, and save the point for the daytime.

What This Won't Do

It will not remove the cause of back pain, and with backs the cause is usually a mix of age, posture, load and the joints and discs themselves. A hollow at the ankle cannot out-argue fifty years of lifting, sitting and standing. What it can offer is a few minutes of focused attention, a sore spot that many people find eases as they work it, and something useful to do with an aching back that does not require bending. Pair it with walking, with the exercises a physiotherapist gives you, and with the habits that spare the back. On its own it is a comfort measure.

It will not replace a diagnosis either. Back pain with numbness in the groin or buttocks, new trouble passing urine or controlling the bowels, or weakness in both legs is an emergency: get help at once. Back pain after a fall, back pain with fever or unexplained weight loss, or pain that is worse at night and getting worse week on week all need a doctor. So does pain down the leg with a foot that drops or drags. Time spent pressing is time not spent getting those looked at.

Safety First

If you are pregnant, skip this one. Do not work over skin that is broken, infected, badly bruised or rashy. Leave the ankle alone after a fresh sprain, a recent fracture or surgery, or with any plate or screw under the skin. Never press on a bulging vein. If you have varicose veins or have ever had a clot in the leg, ask your doctor before pressing. If you have diabetes or poor feeling in your feet, check the skin of your feet and ankles first and ask your doctor before you start, because you may not feel when pressure is too much. With blood thinners or easy bruising, use the lightest pressure that still finds the sting.

Stop at once if the pain stays after you lift off, spreads, or the area turns swollen, hot or red, and stop for any electric or numb feeling. For the full list of cautions and situations where self-applied pressure is not appropriate, read the full safety guide before you begin.

Questions People Ask

Where is the Kunlun (BL60) pressure point? Kunlun (BL60), Côn Lôn in Vietnamese, is on the outer side of the ankle. Find the highest point of the outer ankle bone and the thick tendon at the back of the heel. The point sits in the soft dip halfway between the two, level with the top of the bone. Probe there until one spot stings.

Why is Kunlun (BL60) avoided in pregnancy? In this tradition the point appears among those used at the end of childbirth, and teachers have always kept it away from pregnancy as a result. This method follows that caution without exception. If you are pregnant, skip this one and choose a point on the hand or wrist instead.

Why would a point at the ankle help my lower back? In this tradition the line it belongs to runs from the head, down both sides of the spine, down the back of the leg and out to the little toe. Points far down a line are commonly used for complaints higher up the same line. There is no promise in that, but many people with an aching back like a point they can reach sitting down.

What is Kunlun (BL60) used for? Kunlun (BL60), named after the Kunlun Mountains, is called Côn Lôn in Vietnamese. In this tradition it is commonly used for an aching lower back, pain running down the back of the leg and a stiff, sore ankle. Work it for one to three minutes on each ankle, in the daytime or before bed. You can squeeze it together with the matching dip on the inner ankle, using less force than with one tip. If you are pregnant, skip this one.

I feel tingling along the outside of my foot. Should I keep going? No. Ease off and move the tip a few millimetres toward the ankle bone. A thin nerve runs behind the outer ankle to the little-toe side of the foot, and pressing on it gives a tingling or electric feeling. The sensation you want is a sharp sting right under the tip that fades when you lift off.

How long should I press Kunlun? One to three minutes on each ankle. Start with about a minute a side for the first few sessions, then lengthen a little as the tenderness settles. Do both ankles, once or twice a day, in the daytime or before bed.

Other Points in This Library

Each of these sits within reach of the same hand. They are often worked in the same sitting.

This page shares general information about a traditional practice. It is not medical advice and does not replace what your doctor has given you. If you are pregnant, managing a health condition, or unsure whether this applies to you, check with your doctor first.

The whole inner edge of the foot, laid out on one page with photographs, is in The Foot Map — the free book. For every point in this library, see the full pressure point index.

(Point shown: BL60 · Kunlun · The Kunlun Mountains · Côn Lôn.)