The meridian begins below the eye, descends alongside the nose, reaches the upper lip and then the angle of the jaw, from which a branch rises towards the corner of the forehead. The main branch descends the neck, crosses the clavicle, runs down the chest along the nipple line, then the abdomen two units from the midline. It reaches the groin, follows the antero-lateral aspect of the thigh and leg, crosses the dorsum of the foot and ends at the outer nail corner of the second toe.
The Stomach receives food and breaks it down: it is described as the sea of grain. It sends the clear downwards to the Small Intestine, the opposite movement to the Spleen, which sends it upwards. This balance between descending and ascending explains why nausea, belching and vomiting are read as Stomach Qi rebelling upwards. The meridian also treats facial pain and paralysis, disorders of the teeth and throat, and pain along the front of the lower limb.