Daling (PC7): The Middle-of-the-Wrist-Crease Point for Sore, Tired Wrists

Where Daling Sits

This point belongs to the line that Vietnamese traditional medicine calls the Pericardium channel. It is the path down the middle of the inner arm, running from the chest to the tip of the middle finger. On the way it passes along the forearm between two cords and across the wrist. Of all the points on that line, this is the easiest address in the body to describe: the middle of your wrist crease, palm side. Its international code is at the foot of this page.

Anatomically, the point lies on the front of the wrist, on the transverse crease. It is in the gap between the same two tendons you can feel higher up the forearm. Directly beneath that gap is the roof of the tunnel at the wrist (the carpal tunnel). This roof is a thick band of fibrous tissue that holds the tendons down as they cross into the hand. Under that roof the large nerve to the hand (the median nerve) passes through alongside the long tendons of the fingers. It carries fibres from the nerve roots of the lower neck and upper back. On either side the small wrist bones begin, and they give this area its raised, mounded shape.

That mounded shape is where the old name comes from. Cup your hand and look at the heel of it from the side. The wrist rises like a low hill before dropping to the forearm. The point sits at the foot of that hill, on the crease.

To find it by feel rather than by picture: turn the palm up, then bend the hand toward you a little so the crease deepens and the two cords rise. Run a fingertip along the crease from the thumb side toward the little-finger side. You cross the first cord, drop into a soft gap, then meet the second. That gap, right on the crease, is the spot. It is almost exactly halfway across your wrist.

Why This Spot

The anatomical reason this spot is so easy to work with is that three landmarks meet here. All three can be felt in the dark: a crease you can see and feel, a cord on either side, and the low mound of wrist bone behind. Nothing needs measuring. There are no finger widths to count and no distance up the arm to estimate. For anyone whose eyes are not what they were, that is worth a great deal.

The second reason is the shallowness. The tissue over the gap is thin: skin, then the fibrous band. Beneath it a major nerve and a bundle of tendons run through a narrow corridor. So the sensation is specific and easy to recognise. It is a deep, slightly bright ache spreading into the heel of the hand, sometimes with a faint buzz toward the thumb and first fingers. That same shallowness is why the pressure must stay moderate. This is not a place to lean on.

In this tradition, the point is described as the gate of the great mound, standing where the arm meets the hand. It is commonly used to settle a chest that flutters, a wrist that aches from use, and a person who cannot wind down in the evening. The old texts place it under the heading of an unsettled spirit. That is their language, faithfully reported, and it is not a claim about what happens in your body when you press.

What the Old Texts Say About Daling

This point carries an argument that has run for two thousand years, and it is one of the more interesting quarrels in the old literature.

The first chapter of the Spiritual Pivot (Ling Shu), the earliest layer of the Inner Canon, lists twelve source points. In that system these were the places where the vital movement of each organ surfaced at the wrists and ankles. For the heart, the received text names this point on the wrist crease. It does not name the point further along the little-finger side that later authors would choose. Commentators have argued about it ever since. Whatever the reason, it tells you how highly the earliest writers rated this patch of skin.

The name means great mound, or great hill. The Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Jia Yi Jing) was compiled by Huangfu Mi in the third century. It is the oldest surviving ordered reference of its kind. It gives the address as "behind the palm, in the depression between the two sinews." Read that alongside what your own fingertip found a moment ago. The description has not needed revision in seventeen hundred years.

In 1026 Wang Weiyi compiled the illustrated manual known as the Bronze Man (Tongren Shuxue Zhenjiu Tujing). In 1027 two hollow bronze figures were cast with every point marked. The figures were used to settle disputes and to examine students, and the address on the wrist crease was among those the bronze held in place.

Seven centuries later the imperial compilers of the Golden Mirror of Medicine (Yi Zong Jin Jian, 1742) set the same locations into rhymed verse for students to carry in memory. The old books list this point for a heart that will not sit still, for agitation, for a sore wrist, and for someone who cannot settle at night.

None of that is evidence in the modern sense, and this site will not pretend otherwise. It is something else: a long, stubborn agreement about where to put a thumb.

Points That Work With Daling

The point three finger widths up the same forearm. Lay three fingers across the wrist crease pointing up the arm. Press in the middle where the third finger lands, between the same two cords. It is the stronger partner of the pair, and the one most people reach for when the chest feels unsettled or the stomach is churning. Do the forearm point first, then drop down to the crease. That takes two minutes and covers more ground than either alone.

The point at the little-finger edge of the wrist crease. Stay on the crease and follow it across toward the little-finger side. Stop when you meet the edge of a small round bone. The hollow inside that bone is the spot. It sits on the same crease at the same level. It is the main point for lying awake after waking in the small hours.

The point on the back of the same wrist. Turn the arm over and run a fingertip along the crease on the back of the wrist. Let it fall into the soft dip a little past the middle, toward the little-finger side. Add it when the wrist joint itself is the complaint rather than the evening restlessness.

Two points in one session. Not five.

How to Press Daling With Your Thumb

Getting Into Position

Rest the forearm on a table, an arm of a chair, or a cushion on your lap, palm turned up, elbow loosely bent. Let the surface take the weight of the arm so the shoulder can drop. If you are in bed, lay the forearm across your chest, palm up, and stay lying down. The hand should be limp. If it is held stiff, the cords stay tight and everything is harder to feel.

How to Find It

Turn the palm up. Bend the hand toward your forearm a little, as though asking someone to stop, and hold it there for a moment. The crease deepens and two cords stand up in the middle of the wrist. Put a fingertip on the crease at the thumb side and walk it slowly across. First cord, then a soft gap, then the second cord. Stop in the gap.

Let the hand relax and press in. The right spot answers with a dull ache spreading into the heel of the hand. It is often brighter and more definite than the ache higher up the forearm. Sometimes there is a faint buzz toward the thumb. The tissue may feel slightly ropey under the thumb pad. If you get nothing at all, you are probably on top of one of the cords rather than between them. Slide a few millimetres either way and try again.

How to Press It

Use the pad of your thumb. Press straight down into the gap, perpendicular to the crease, keeping the pressure even rather than digging in at an angle. A small slow circle also works, about the size of a pea, moving the skin rather than sliding over it. In the evening, favour the steady hold: it asks less of your attention, which is the point of doing this before bed.

How Much Pressure

Moderate, and no more. Two tests keep you honest. If you are holding your breath, you have gone too far. Your breathing should stay slow and unbothered throughout. If your shoulder has climbed toward your ear, drop it and ease off. The nerve here passes through a tight tunnel with very little padding over it, so this point deserves a lighter touch than most. Aim for a clear, tolerable ache you could hold a conversation through. A tingle in the fingers is your signal to lighten, not to press on.

How Long

Hold for five to eight slow breaths, roughly a minute, then release. Rest a few breaths and repeat once if you want to. Then do the other wrist the same way. Both sides, always. The whole thing takes two to four minutes. That is short enough that you will actually do it. Most routines fail because they were designed for someone with more patience than any of us have at eleven at night.

When to Do It

Two windows work best. The first is the last half hour before bed, sitting on the edge of the bed with the lamp already low, as the closing move of whatever winding-down you do. The second is any point in the day when the wrist has been working, after a keyboard or the garden.

If you wake in the night, you can use it then too, but reach for the point at the little-finger edge of the crease first. That one is the night point. This one is better suited to the run-up.

What This Won't Do

It will not repair a damaged wrist. Suppose you have a real problem in that joint. It might be a tear, a fracture that never mended properly, a hot, puffy joint, or a nerve squeezed badly enough to wake you with numb fingers. Pressing on the outside of it is not the answer, and delaying an examination can cost you. Numbness or weakness in the thumb and first fingers is a reason to see your doctor. So is a grip that drops things, or pain that wakes you and will not settle. None of these is a reason to press harder.

It will also not replace anything you have been prescribed. Keep taking exactly what your doctor prescribed. This is something you do in addition, never instead. If you are on medication for sleep or for anxiety, do not change the dose on your own because a pressure point seemed to help for a week. A fluttering or racing feeling in the chest that is new, that comes with breathlessness, dizziness or chest pain, or that lasts, is a matter for a doctor promptly. A point on the wrist is not the place to find out what is causing it.

Safety First

Do not press here if the skin is broken, inflamed, bruised, or burned. Avoid the area entirely in any of these cases. The wrist is hot and swollen. You have had recent surgery or an injection there. Or a fracture has not mended. Also avoid it if you have a blood clot in the arm, or on the side where lymph nodes have been removed. The nerve runs through a narrow tunnel directly under this point, so keep the pressure light to moderate. Stop if numbness or tingling persists after you let go.

This is general wellness education, not medical advice. It is not a substitute for care from your doctor. If you have a medical condition, are pregnant, or take medication, check with your doctor first. Read the full safety guide before you begin.

Questions People Ask

Where is the Daling (PC7) pressure point? Daling (PC7) sits in the exact middle of the crease where your palm side meets your forearm. Turn your palm up and bend the hand toward you so two cords rise. Walk a fingertip along the crease and stop in the soft gap between the cords, almost halfway across the wrist.

How long should I press Daling? Hold for five to eight slow breaths, roughly a minute, then release. Rest a few breaths and repeat once if you want to. Then do the other wrist the same way. The whole thing takes two to four minutes. Keep the pressure light to moderate.

Is this the same as the point higher up the forearm? No, but they are on the same line. The forearm point sits three finger widths above the crease; this one sits on the crease itself, straight down from it. Many people use them one after the other, which takes an extra minute and is worth it.

My fingers go numb at night. Can I press here? Go gently, and get the numbness looked at. A large nerve passes under this exact spot through a tight tunnel, and numbness in the thumb and first fingers at night is a known pattern that a doctor should assess. Light, brief pressure is reasonable while you wait for that appointment. Hard pressure is not.

Can I use it while my wrist is sore from typing or gardening? Yes, if the wrist is only tired and achy. Work at a level you would describe as comfortable, and pair it with actually resting the wrist. If the joint is hot, swollen, or has given way, leave it alone and have it examined.

Which hand should I press with? Whichever is free. Most people use the opposite thumb. If you are lying in bed and only one arm is easy to reach, do that side, then turn over later and do the other. Both sides matter, but doing one side is better than doing nothing.

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: PC7 · Daling · Đại Lăng.)