ST-8 - Head's Binding

头维 - Tóu wéi

Point Region: Head

ST

Stomach Meridian

足阳明胃经 - Zú Yángmíng Wèi Jīng

Location & How to Find

Anatomical Location: On the head, 0.5 cun above the front hairline at the corner of the forehead, 4.5 cun out from the midline.

Distances are in cun, a unit that scales with each person's body. As a guide, the width of your thumb at its joint is 1 cun, and your four fingers held together, measured across the middle joints, are 3 cun.

How to Locate:

  1. Find the corner of your forehead hairline
  2. Move half a thumb-width up into the hair
  3. The point is there
ST-8 (Head's Binding) acupressure point location: On the head, 0.5 cun above the front hairline at the corner of the forehead, 4.5 cun out from the midline.

How to Apply Pressure

Once you have located ST-8 at the corner of the hairline, press lightly with flat fingertips rather than a thumb tip, and do not feel for or press on the pulsing artery. Skip it after recent head surgery or head trauma, and stop if pressing worsens a headache.

Traditional Indications

In TCM, this point is traditionally used for:

  • Headache
  • Eye pain
  • Excessive tearing
  • Eyelid twitching
  • Visual disturbance
  • Frontal headache
  • Temple pain
  • Migraine
  • Eye strain

Related Health Concerns

HeadacheMigraine

Select a point to see its location, how to find it, and its traditional uses.

Important Precautions

Avoid this point with:

  • Recent head surgery
  • Skull fractures
  • Severe head trauma

Take care:

  • Located near temporal artery