Jianliao (TE14): The Back-of-the-Shoulder Point for a Stiff, Aching Shoulder

Where Jianliao Sits

This point sits in the back of the two dimples at the shoulder tip, about one thumb-width behind the front dimple, and it is used for a stiff, aching shoulder that is sore to lift. This line begins at the outer corner of the ring fingernail and runs up the back of the hand. It crosses the wrist and climbs the back of the forearm between the two bones. Then it passes the point of the elbow, goes up the back of the upper arm to the shoulder, crosses the neck, circles the ear and ends at the outer end of the eyebrow. Vietnamese and Chinese texts call it the Triple Energizer channel. This is the fourteenth stop along it, the one where the line reaches the back of the shoulder.

The Vietnamese reference places it in the dip on the upper arm at the point of the shoulder, below and behind the bony tip. Its quick finder adds a measure. It is about one thumb-width behind the dip at the front of the shoulder tip. The international standard published by the World Health Organization in 2008 gives the same picture. When the elbow is bent and the arm lifted out to the side, two dips appear around the bony point of the shoulder. The front one is deeper. This point is in the back one.

Underneath is the rear part of the deltoid, the rounded cap of muscle over the shoulder. Below it, close to the bone, run the tendons of the small muscles behind the shoulder that turn the arm outward and hold the top of the arm bone in its socket. The point sits between the back corner of the bony roof of the shoulder (the acromion) and the knob at the top of the upper-arm bone. When the back of the shoulder is strained, from reaching behind to a seat belt or tucking in a shirt, the ache is often felt right here.

The nerve supply explains the sensation. The deltoid and one of the small muscles behind the shoulder are driven by the axillary nerve. It winds around the back of the upper-arm bone a little below this point. It comes from the fifth and sixth roots of the neck part of the spinal cord, which also serve the skin over the outer shoulder. That is why neck strain can be felt at the back of the shoulder, and why a firm press here spreads a dull ache down the outer arm.

Why This Spot

The back of the shoulder is a place few people ever rub, because it is hard to reach. Yet its small muscles work every time the arm reaches back, turns out or slows down after a throw or a swing. They also hold the shoulder steady during every lift. With age, those tendons stiffen. Reaching for a back pocket, a bra clasp or a car seat belt becomes the movement that catches. The dimple behind the shoulder tip sits right over them. It has bone above and the round head of the arm bone below, so the fingertip stays in place once it is there.

In this tradition the name describes the shape: the Shoulder Crevice. It refers to the narrow gap between bones at the back of the shoulder joint. In this tradition, points that sit in such gaps are described as places where the channel passes close to the joint, so they are reached for when the joint itself is stiff.

The point is on the same line as the well-known forearm point three finger-widths above the back of the wrist. In this tradition, a complaint in the shoulder is often worked from both ends of the line: close to the pain and far away from it.

What the Old Texts Say About Jianliao

The Vietnamese handbook used by The Neuro Reset, Ngô Trung Triều's Acupoints and Channels of the Human Body (Huyệt vị kinh lạc cơ thể người), lists the uses that have come down through the tradition: pain around the shoulder joint, and an arm that is weak, stiff and painful. That is a short list, and it is honest. This is a local point for a local problem. It is used for the shoulder it sits on.

What stands out in the older description is how it locates this point by its neighbour. It does not describe it in isolation. It says to go behind the dip at the front of the shoulder by about one thumb-width. That makes sense in practice. The front dimple is usually easier to find, and once you have it, the back one is a short slide away over the bony tip. The modern international standard does the same. It describes the two dips together, front and back, and tells you the front one is deeper.

There is a useful detail in the international standard's instruction to bend the elbow while lifting the arm. With the elbow bent, the upper arm turns slightly. The back dimple opens more clearly. Try it both ways on your own shoulder and you will feel the difference. Old texts and modern standards agree on the dimple. Your body, through the sting under the fingertip, tells you the exact spot inside it.

Across the tradition, the point has rarely been used alone. It is almost always paired with the front dimple and with points further down the same arm line. That pairing is described in the next section.

Points That Work With Jianliao

The closest partner is the front dimple of the shoulder tip. With the arm lifted out to the side, slide forward over the bony tip and down into the dip in front. It is usually deeper than this one. The two are pressed together for a shoulder that will not lift, one in front and one behind.

The second partner is on the forearm, on the same line as this point. Turn the forearm palm down and lay three fingers across the crease at the back of the wrist, going up the arm. The far edge of the third finger marks the level. Sink a thumb into the hollow between the two forearm bones there. It is commonly used for an aching shoulder and a stiff neck, and it is easy to reach when the shoulder is too sore to touch.

The third partner is on the top of the shoulder, halfway between the bony knob at the base of the neck and the shoulder tip. It is used when the stiffness runs from the shoulder up into the neck. It is traditionally avoided in pregnancy.

How to Find and Press Jianliao

Getting Into Position

Sit beside a table and rest the elbow of the sore arm on it, so the arm is supported a little away from your side. Drop the shoulder. Reach across your chest with the other hand, and rest that elbow on a cushion if it tires. If you cannot reach, stand half-turned to a wall with a firm ball between the back of the shoulder and the wall. Or ask a helper to stand behind you.

How to Find It

Reach across with the opposite hand and find the bony point at the very tip of the sore shoulder. Now slide your fingertips back and down off that point. They will drop into a soft dimple between the bone above and the round top of the arm bone below. That dimple is the area. If you gently bend the elbow and rock the arm, you will feel the dimple open and close under your fingers.

Probe inside the dimple slowly with the fingertip. Most of the tissue will feel soft and mildly tender. One small spot will sting. It is a sharp, pinpoint tenderness under the fingertip that fades as soon as you lift off. That spot is the point. If you feel an electric jolt or tingling down the arm, lift off and move a little aside.

How to Press It

The method has three steps. Find the area, probe inside it until one spot stings, then rub that spot in small circles. Use the tip of your middle finger with the nail cut short, a pressing tool with a rounded tip, or a helper's thumb tip. Press into the dimple toward the centre of the joint.

With a ball against a wall, the same steps apply. Bend and straighten the knees to roll the ball until one spot stings. Then make small circles by shifting your weight. Lean in only as much as you would press with a thumb. Keep the circles small and slow, no wider than a grain of rice.

How Much Pressure

Use your body as the gauge. If you are holding your breath, clenching your jaw or hitching the shoulder toward your ear, you are pressing too hard. Sharp under the fingertip is right. That sting is how you know you are on the point, and it should fade when you lift off. Stop if the pain stays after you lift off, if it spreads down the arm, or if the shoulder turns swollen, hot or red. Stop at once for electric, numb or tingling sensations.

How Long

One to three minutes on each shoulder. In the first sessions stay close to one minute, then add a little as the days go on. Once or twice a day is plenty. Do both shoulders, even when only one hurts. If you are also pressing the front dimple, do the front first, then this one.

When to Do It

Mornings suit a shoulder that wakes up stiff. A short round before getting dressed can help with the movements that catch, such as reaching behind for a sleeve or a clasp. A gentle round in the hour before bed can help the shoulder settle. Do not press in the middle of the night. If the shoulder wakes you, change position, rest the arm on a pillow, and leave the pressing for the morning or the next evening.

What This Won't Do

It will not undo the wear on the joint. For most shoulders over fifty, the ache comes from stiffened tendons, a joint that has been used hard for decades, or sleeping on the same side night after night. Pressing a dimple behind the shoulder tip does not reverse any of that. Sleep on the other side or on your back with a pillow under the arm, move the shoulder gently through its range every day, and avoid jerking movements behind the back. Then this point has something to add. On its own it is a comfort measure, and it will not promise you an unbroken night.

It will not replace a diagnosis either. Shoulder pain that comes with chest pressure, breathlessness, sweating, nausea or pain into the jaw is an emergency. Call for help immediately and do not sit pressing your shoulder. See a doctor promptly if you cannot lift the arm after a fall or a sudden pull, or if the shoulder looks out of shape. The same applies to a joint that is hot, swollen or red, and to numbness or weakness in the arm or hand. A shoulder that is losing movement week by week, night pain that will not settle, or any of this with fever or unexplained weight loss also needs a doctor.

Safety First

Leave this point alone with a fresh injury, a recent dislocation or fracture, or within the first weeks after shoulder surgery unless your surgeon has cleared it. Do not work over a joint replacement without asking your surgeon. If you take blood thinners, bruise easily, have a bleeding disorder or reduced feeling in your arms, use lighter pressure and keep sessions short. After lymph nodes have been removed from the armpit, ask your clinician before pressing anywhere on that arm. Do not work over skin that is broken, burned, infected or badly bruised.

Stop if the pain stays after you lift off, spreads, or the area turns swollen, hot or red, and stop for any electric, numb or tingling sensation down the arm. Nothing here asks you to push through pain. 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 Jianliao (TE14) pressure point? Jianliao (TE14) sits at the back of the shoulder tip. Lift your arm out to the side and two dimples appear around the bony point of the shoulder. This point is in the back one, below and behind the bony tip, about a thumb-width behind the front dimple.

How do I reach Jianliao (TE14) on my own shoulder? Reach across your chest with the opposite hand and curl the fingertips over the top of the shoulder to the back of the tip. Rest that elbow on your other hand or on a table. If that is hard, stand with the back of the shoulder against a wall and a firm ball between the two, and lean gently into it. A helper's thumb tip also works well.

What is the difference between Jianliao (TE14) and the point in front of the shoulder tip? They sit either side of the same bony point. The front dimple belongs to the arm line that runs up from the index finger. This one belongs to the line that runs up the back of the forearm from the ring finger. The two are often pressed together for a shoulder that will not lift.

How long should I press Jianliao (TE14)? One to three minutes on each shoulder. Keep it close to one minute in the first sessions and add a little as the days go on. Once or twice a day is enough. Do both shoulders, even if only one hurts.

What is Jianliao (TE14) used for, and what does the name mean? In Vietnamese traditional medicine it is commonly used for pain around the shoulder joint and an arm that is stiff and sore to lift, especially when reaching behind the back. The name means "the Shoulder Crevice", for the narrow gap between bones at the back of the shoulder. In Vietnamese the point is called Kiên Liêu. If you cannot reach it, a firm ball between the shoulder and a wall does the same job.

My shoulder hurts most at night. Should I press the point then? No. This method does not press in the middle of the night. Change position, rest the arm on a pillow and leave the pressing for the morning or the hour before bed. Shoulder pain that wakes you night after night is also a reason to have the shoulder checked.

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: TE14 · Jianliao · The Shoulder Crevice · Kiên Liêu.)