Jugu (LI16): The Notch on Top of the Shoulder, for an Arm That Won't Lift

Where Jugu Sits

This point sits on the very top of the shoulder, in a small hollow you can feel with one fingertip. Two bones meet here. In front is the outer end of the collarbone. Behind is the ridge of the shoulder blade, the hard bar of bone you can trace across the back of the shoulder. They join at the shoulder tip and spread apart toward the neck, making a narrow V. The point is in that V, close to where the bones meet.

It belongs to the line that Vietnamese and Chinese texts call the Large Intestine channel. That line begins at the tip of the index finger, runs up the outer side of the forearm and upper arm, crosses the front corner of the shoulder, and climbs over the top of the shoulder toward the neck and face. This is the sixteenth stop, where the line leaves the arm and turns up toward the neck.

The modern standard from the World Health Organization describes it in the shoulder girdle, in the depression between the acromial end of the clavicle and the spine of the scapula. In plain words: between the outer end of the collarbone and the ridge of the shoulder blade, at the top of the shoulder. The Vietnamese handbook gives the same place and adds a practical tip: feel for where the collarbone joins the shoulder tip, then slide your finger a little inward to find the gap between the two bones.

Under the skin is the upper edge of the broad muscle that runs from the neck to the shoulder, the trapezius. Deeper, filling the hollow above the shoulder blade, lies a smaller muscle, the supraspinatus. It starts the movement whenever you lift your arm out to the side, and its tendon passes under the shoulder tip on its way to the arm bone. The skin is served by small branches of the nerves that fan out over the collarbone from the neck. The nerve to the deep shoulder muscles runs nearby.

Why This Spot

On the anatomical side, this hollow sits over one of the hardest-working muscles in the shoulder. The small muscle beneath it helps lift the arm, and its tendon has a tight path under the shoulder tip. After fifty, that tendon often wears and thickens. Reaching up to a shelf, pegging out washing or putting on a coat can then bring a deep ache to the top and outer side of the shoulder. The muscles around it guard and tighten. Pressing into the hollow reaches the tight top of that muscle without pressing on the joint itself.

In this tradition, the Large Intestine channel is one of the main lines for the arm and shoulder. Points along it are used when the arm aches and will not move freely. This one sits where the channel turns from the arm to the neck, so it is described as a gate between the two. When pain sits on the top of the shoulder and makes the arm heavy, a teacher reaches for it.

The name is simple. Ju means great and gu means bone. In old texts the great bone was the collarbone, and the point is named after the bone that ends beside it. Its Vietnamese name, Cự Cốt, means the same.

What the Old Texts Say About Jugu

The Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, the Jiayi Jing, compiled by Huangfu Mi in the third century, places this point at the upper end of the shoulder, between two forked bones, in the hollow. The forked bones are the collarbone and the ridge of the shoulder blade spreading apart. Seventeen centuries later, the modern standard describes the same notch.

The Jiayi Jing lists it for pain of the shoulder and back, and for an arm that cannot be raised. Later collections repeat these uses. They also add swollen glands at the side of the neck, a common complaint of their time.

The Vietnamese handbook of points and channels by Ngô Trung Triều, published by Hồng Đức, lists the point for complaints of the shoulder joint, the back and the arm, as well as swollen neck glands. Its finding method starts at the joint where the collarbone meets the shoulder tip, and steps a finger inward into the gap.

Notice what the old books stress. They do not describe a shoulder that hurts in one place. They describe an arm that will not go up. For people in their 60s and 70s that is often the real problem: not the pain alone, but losing the reach to a top shelf, a hairbrush, or the back of a bra. That reputation rests on long use rather than proof.

Points That Work With Jugu

The first partner sits on the front corner of the shoulder, in the hollow that appears when you lift your arm out to the side. It is the most used shoulder point on this same line. In this tradition the two are often pressed one after the other, the front corner first and then the top notch, when the whole shoulder aches.

The second sits on the top of the shoulder, halfway between the base of the neck and the shoulder tip, on the highest part of the thick muscle there. Pair it with this one when the ache spreads up into the neck and the shoulders creep toward the ears.

The third sits at the outer end of the elbow crease when the elbow is bent. It is a main point on the same line, further down the arm. Pair it with this one when the ache runs from the shoulder down the outer arm.

How to Find and Press Jugu

Getting Into Position

Sit upright in a firm chair with your feet flat and your back supported. Rest the arm of the sore side in your lap so its muscles can let go. Reach across your chest with the other hand and lay your fingers over the top of the sore shoulder. If that arm is stiff too, use a stick with a rounded end held over the shoulder, or a rounded tool held in the hand.

How to Find It

Put your fingertips on the front of your collarbone near the neck and follow it outward. It ends in a small bump at the shoulder tip. Now feel behind it for the bony ridge of the shoulder blade, which runs across the back of the shoulder and meets the collarbone at the tip. Between the two bones, just inside the place where they join, your fingertip will drop into a small hollow.

Press down into that hollow and move in small steps, forward and back, in and out. Much of it will feel like ordinary pressure on muscle. One spot will sting: a small, sharp, pinpoint tenderness deep in the notch. That spot is the point. Hunt for the spot that stings, because that's the one.

How to Press It

Use a fingertip, the tip of your thumb with the nail cut short, or a pressure tool with a rounded tip, not the flat pad of a finger. Press straight down toward the floor, into the gap between the two bones. Do not press on the bones themselves and do not dig inward toward the neck. Once you are on the stinging spot, stay on it, and make small circles about the size of a pea, roughly one each second, without sliding away.

How Much Pressure

A sharp sting in the notch is right. When you lift off, it should fade within moments. If the pain stays after you lift off, spreads down the arm, or the shoulder turns swollen, hot or red, stop and leave it for several days. Stop at once for tingling or numbness in the arm or hand. If you are holding your breath, or your shoulder has crept up toward your ear, you are pressing too hard. Let the shoulder drop and breathe slowly through the sting.

How Long

One to three minutes on each side. Keep the first sessions to about a minute, because the top of the shoulder can feel bruised the next day. Add a little time over the following days, up to three minutes. Work both shoulders, even when only one complains. Once or twice a day is plenty.

When to Do It

Morning suits a shoulder that is stiff on waking: press it before you get dressed, then try your gentle arm exercises while the area feels warm. Late afternoon suits the ache that builds after housework or gardening. Before bed is a good time if the shoulder aches when you lie on it. Do not press in the middle of the night. If the shoulder wakes you, change position, support the arm on a pillow, and save the pressing for the day.

What This Won't Do

It will not repair a torn or worn tendon, and it will not free a frozen shoulder on its own. A frozen shoulder tightens the joint lining itself and usually takes many months to loosen, with or without help. Pressing here can ease tight, tender muscle and make gentle movement more comfortable, which is real and worth having. Results vary from person to person. What restores a shoulder over time is plainer: daily gentle movement within comfort, exercises from a physiotherapist, and not letting the arm sit unused in your lap all day.

It is also no substitute for a diagnosis. See a doctor if you cannot lift the arm at all after a fall or a sudden jerk, because a torn tendon is best seen early. Get urgent help for shoulder or upper arm pain that comes with chest tightness, breathlessness, sweating or pain in the jaw. See a doctor soon for a shoulder that is hot and swollen, pain with fever, pain that wakes you every night, or weakness or numbness down the arm.

Safety First

Do not press over skin that is broken, burned, infected, badly bruised or rashy. Leave the area alone after a recent dislocation, a broken collarbone or shoulder, or shoulder surgery, unless your surgeon says it is fine. Leave it alone if the joint is hot, red and swollen. If you take blood thinners, bruise easily or have thin bones, press more gently, keep sessions short, and ask your doctor first.

Stop at once if pain stays after you lift off, spreads, or brings tingling or numbness. Nothing here requires you to push through pain. For the full list of cautions and the situations where pressing on yourself is not appropriate, read the full safety guide before you begin.

Questions People Ask

Where is the Jugu (LI16) pressure point? Jugu (LI16) lies on top of the shoulder, in the small V-shaped hollow between the outer end of the collarbone and the bony ridge of the shoulder blade. Follow the collarbone out until it stops; the hollow sits just behind and inside that end. In Vietnamese it is called Cự Cốt.

Can I reach Jugu (LI16) on my own? Yes, most people can. Reach across your chest with the opposite hand and let a fingertip or the thumb tip drop into the notch. If that arm is stiff too, use a stick with a rounded end held over the shoulder, or press with a rounded tool held in the hand.

Can Jugu (LI16) help a frozen or stiff shoulder? In this tradition it is commonly used for a shoulder that aches and an arm that will not lift. Pressing can ease tight, tender muscle and make gentle movement more comfortable. It will not free a frozen shoulder on its own, and results vary. Keep up the exercises your doctor or physiotherapist gives you.

Which direction should I press? Press straight down toward the floor, into the hollow between the two bones. Do not press on the bones themselves, and do not dig inward toward the neck. Search the hollow until you find one spot that stings, then stay there.

How long should I press Jugu? One to three minutes on each side. Keep the first sessions to about a minute, then add a little as the days go on, up to three. Once or twice a day is enough. Work both shoulders, even if only one is sore.

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: LI16 · Jugu · Great Bone · Cự Cốt.)