The Triple Heater is also called the Triple Warmer, the Triple Burner, or sometimes even, the Three Burning Spaces. It is also sometimes known by its Chinese name Sanjiao. It has no equivalent in modern western medicine.
The Triple Heater is part of the fire element in the human body. The fire element is unique – it has two manifestations each of yin and yang – the other elements only have one manifestation each of yin and yang. The Triple heater is part of the yang of the fire element in our bodies (the other is the Small Intestine). The yin of the fire element in the human body is the Heart and Pericardium.
The Triple Heater is also different to the other organs and channels. It is also used as a way to refer to different parts of the body.
The Triple Heater as Body Divisions.
The Upper Heater is above the diaphragm and so includes the heart and lungs. The Middle Heater is from the diaphragm to the umbilicus (belly button) and so includes the stomach, spleen and liver. The Lower Heater is from the umbilicus to bottom of the torso and so includes kidneys, bladder and intestines. This division refers to the three processes of energy processing in our bodies – inspiration and exhalation (upper heater), digestion (middle heater) and elimination (lower heater). In acupuncture you will see breathing difficulties sometimes called an “upper heater disorder” or a digestive upset called a “middle heater problem”. (This will depend on the root cause of the problem referred to.)
The Triple Heater channel begins on the ring finger (the one closest to our little finger) near the outer boundary of lower part of the nail. It then travels up the middle of the yang side of the arm (the outside with more hair on it) across the shoulder, up the neck around the ear and ends at the outside edge of the eyebrow.
There is no physical structure that corresponds to the Triple Heater as there is with all the other organs. It is a collection of functions.
The Triple Heater distributes energy throughout the body. One traditional description of the Triple Heater is “The Official in Charge of irrigation (or the waterways)”. It sends the energy that is taken from the air, food and water we take in and sends it to the different parts of the body.
Like the other arm yang channels (the Small Intestine and the Colon) the points on the Triple Heater channel aren’t used much to treat the ‘organ’ (or in the case of the Triple Heater to effect its function). The points are mostly used to treat local problems